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WHAT  IS  INSPIRATION? 

A  FRESH  STUDY  OF   THE  QUESTION 
WITH  NE  W  AND  DI SCRIM  IN  A  TIVE  REPLIES 


BY 
/ 

JOHN  DE  WITT,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Litt.  D. 

A  MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVISION  COMPANY, 
AND   FOR   MANY   YEARS   PROFESSOR   OF   BIBLICAL   EXEGESIS 
IN   THE   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY    AT    NEW    BRUNSWICK,    N.  J. 
AUTHOR   OF    "THE   PSALMS;    A   NEW   TRANSLATION     WITH 
NOTES,"   ETC. 


NEW   YORK 

ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH 

&    COMPANY 

(incorporated) 
182    FIFTH    AVENUE 


Copyright,  1893,  by 

ANSON  D.   F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY, 

(incorporated). 


PRESS  OF 

EDWARD  O.  JENKINS'  SOU, 

NEW  YORK. 


?Debication. 

This  volume  is  inscribed  to  the  meifiory  of  one  who 
was  here  when  it  was  planned  and  large  portiofis  of  it 
were  written.  It  has  received  precious  consecration  from 
her  deep  interest  in  its  purpose  and  progress,  and  her 
pleasure  in  anticipati?ig  its  publication.  Yet  she  could  not 
wait  for  the  end,  but  is  gone  to  the  reward  of  her  faith- 
ful, patient,  loving,  self-sacrificing,  and  gracious  life. 


PKEFACE. 


This  essay  is  a  response  to  an  imperative  demand.  ' 
Any  questioning  that  bears  upon  the  inspiration  of  the 
Bible    is  of   like  interest  and  vital  importance  to  all 
Christians. 

The  arraignment  of  two  theological  Professors  for 
aeresy  on  the  ground  of  their  opinions  upon  this  sub- 
ject, has  created  great  anxiety, — yet  not  so  much  the 
fact  of  their  arraignment,  as  the  vindicatory  statements 
in  their  defence,  and  the  acceptance  of  these  as  satis- 
factory, if  only  by  a  large  minority.  Opposite  decisions 
have  been  reached  in  the  lower  tribunals,  and  by  many 
upon  both  sides  the  outcome  is  awaited  with  apprehen- 
sion. I  am  neither  a  partisan  nor  an  opponent  of 
plaintiff  or  defendants,  and  only  refer  to  these  proceed- 
ings as  historic  facts  that  involve  principles  and  results 
of  the  deepest  concern  to  us  all. 

Whatever  be  the  issue  as  respects  the  individuals 
impleaded,  it  has  been  claimed  and  is  not  denied,  that 
Christian  scholarship  in  this  specialty  is  nearly  unani-  ^ 
mous  in  discrediting  the  verbal  inspiration  and  iner- 
rancy of  the  Scriptures.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that 
unprofessional  intelligence  will  be  greatly  influenced  by 
those  who  have  studied  the  documents  as  experts,  and 
in  whose  ability,  attachment  to  the  Bible,  and  unim- 
peachable Christian  excellence  it  has  absolute  confi- 
dence. 

It  is  not  at  all  strange  that  many  are  gi'eatly  dis- 
tressed.    They  have  never    before  had  a  doubt  that 

(iii) 


iv  PREFACE. 

every  word  of  this  treasured  Book  is  divine  and  fault- 
less, and  honestly  think  that  the  foundations  of  their 
faith  are  destroyed.  "  What  is  inspiration,"  they  ask, 
"  that  leaves  errors  behind  it  ?  "  They  demand  some- 
thing positive, — some  conception  of  the  grace  that  has 
given  us  the  Bible,  that  shall  reassure  them  against  this 
appalling  negation. 

In  fact,  the  question  is  pressed  from  all  sides:  "  What 
definition  of  inspiration  will  you  substitute  for  thai 
which  scholarship  has  disparaged  ? "  It  is  vaguely 
claimed,  some  will  say,  by  these  adepts  and  their 
friends,  that  the  Bible,  released  from  the  misconcep-j 
tions  that  have  obscured  it,  is  a  grander  book  than  be-j 
fore.  But  what  proof  have  we  of  this,  and  on  what  in-j 
telligible  ground  can  it  be  claimed  that  we  shall  gain'i 
more  than  we  lose  ?  I 

An  answer  to  these  appeals  must  not  be  refused] 
For  the  opinion  gains  ground  and  is  strongly  expressed, 
that  widespread  injury  will  result  from  these  trials  and 
resultant  discussions,  unless  clear,  definite,  and  conclu-l 
sive  statement  shall  very  soon  bring  rehef  to  those  they 
have  disturbed.  A  prosecutor  in  the  New  York  case 
indignantly  exclaims:  "Is  our  doctrine  to  be  throwii' 
aside  on  the  demand  of  a  body  of  critics  who  have  as 
yet  found  nothing  to  put  in  its  place  ?  "  *  \ 

The  same  thought  is  expressed  more  fully  by  a  writer  ( 
in  a  religious  journal  f  in  connection  with  the  case  of  \ 
Prof.  Smith :  "  The  least  that  can  be  demanded  is  the  con- 
cession  from  the  Professor  and  his  class  of  scholars, 
that  this  is  an  unsettled  question.     The  theory  is  yet  in 


*  Dr.  Lampe's  reply  to  Dr.  Briggs. 
f  The  Interior,  Chicago. 


PREFACE.  V 

the  raw.  The  doctrine  has  not  been  wrought  out  so 
that  one   holding   it  can  identify  the  alleged  human 

from  the  admittedly  divine  in  Scripture Has 

he  not  run  before  his  tidings  were  ready  ?  Has  he  not 
broken  down  before  he  was  ready  to  rebuild  ?  It  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  the  question  is  one  of  fact,  which 
lies  within  the  field  of  scientific  research;  and  if  it  be 
found  to  be  true,  the  church  will  be  forced  to  recon- 
struct her  theory  of  inspiration." 

In  a  different  tone,  but  assertive  of  the  same  necessity, 
is  an  article  in  a  leading  New  York  daily  journal  on  the 
ethics  of  the  Briggs  trial.  The  writer  takes  a  hopeful 
view  of  the  future.  He  refers  to  all  that  has  recently 
been  said  and  written  on  the  subject — as  "  embraced  in  a 
campaign  of  education  that  will  in  a  reasonably  short 
time  change  the  attitude  of  the  whole  Christian  world 
toward  the  Bible,"  and  he  expresses  his  confidence  that 
it  will  not  end  in  the  depreciation  of  its  contents,  nor 
the  refusal  to  regard  it  as  of  divine  authority.  But  he 
speaks  emphatically  of  "  the  shock  which  millions  of 
devout  people  are  receiving,  as  they  find  that  they  have 
put  an  estimate  upon  the  Bible  that  is  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  what  a  knowledge  of  its  character  and 

claims  will  sustain,  as  greatly  to  be  regretted 

The  pressure  of  the  heresy  trials  in  the  Presbyterian 
body  has  hastened  the  distress  of  these  people,  and 
done  nothing  to  sup2:)ly  the  loss  which  has  been  caused 
by  partially  destroying  their  confidence  in  the  Bible." 

Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  the  obligation  of  those' 
who  have  rejected  the  theory  of  verbal  inspiration,  as 
not  in   accordance   with  what  they  find  by  the  most 
careful  scrutiny  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible,  to  furnish 
with  the  least  possible  delay  a  definition  that  shall  ro- 


vi  PREFACE. 

place  it  as  consistent  with  undeniable  fact,  and  thus 
quiet  the  prevailing  agitation. 

In  preparing  the  following  chapters  it  was  impos- 
sible to  conceal  my  deep  interest  in  the  recent  discus- 
sions in  their  important  practical  bearings,  and  so  I 
have  occasionally  referred  to  them.  I  have  spent  the 
larger  portion  of  my  active  life  in  giving  instruction  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  separately  and  in  their 
connection.  Every  year,  and  month,  and  day,  they 
have  become  more  precious,  and  all  labor  in  developing 
their  glorious  import,  and  their  significance  in  connec- 
tion with  every  aspiration  and  hope  of  man,  has  be- 
come more  absorbing.  I  have  therefore  felt  consci- 
entiously impelled  to  render  this  further  service, 
hoping  that  the  thoughts  presented,  however  doubtful 
or  perplexing  to  some  in  their  earlier  impression,  may 
prove  helpful  and  restful  in  their  conclusions. 

I  rejoice  that  I  am  permitted  to  magnify  the  grace 
that  has  been  shown  me,  in  urging  the  claim  of  him 
who  came  down  from  heaven  to  show  us  the  Father,  to 
pre-eminence  over  all  others  as  the  Teacher  of  men. 
The  principles  that  are  observed  in  defining  inspiration 
in  the  closing  chapters,  I  pass  over  to  younger  men  to 
test  and  develop.  If  they  seek  it,  their  heart  and  their 
lips  shall  be  touched  with  fire  from  above,  and  they 
shall  speak  as  was  impossible  for  me.  May  the  dear 
Lord  help  them ! 

Then  shall  our  present  apprehensions  be  completely 
quelled,  and  we  shall  find  a  charming  significance  for 
our  present  need  in  our  Saviour's  words  of  farewell: 
"  Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My  peace  I  give  unto  you. 
Not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid." 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  Preliminary, 1 

n.  Verbal  or  Plenary  Inspiration,   ....       9 
m.  Inspiration     and     the     earlier     Biblical 

Study, 16 

rV.  Two  Theologies  in  Contrast, 23 

V.  The    Higher    Criticism,  Destructive    and 

Constructive, 31 

VI.  Minor  Inaccuracies, 37 

VII.  Minor  Inaccuracies — Historical,  ....     45 

Vin.  Moral  Incongruities, 58 

IX.  Turning    Forward  —  General    Considera- 
tions,       68 

X.  Inspiration  defined  by  Revelation,  ...     78 
XI.  The  Human  Coefficient  in  Revelation,     .     86 
Xn.  Revelation    keeping    pace  with   Develop- 
ment,       97 

Xin.  The  Revelation  as  addressed  to  Men,       .  103 

XIV,  Hope  long  deferred, 115 

XV.  Hope  long  deferred — Continued,      .     .     .  130 
XVI.  The  Purpose  of  the  Revelation,  ....  139 
XVn.  The   Glory  of   the  Old   Testament    Rev- 
elation,        146 

XVm.  The  Prophets  —  The  Christ  —  The    Apos- 
tles,   154 

XIX.  The  Discriminative  Definition  in  part,     .  161 
XX.  The   Definition  Completed  and  the  Final 

Test, 166 

XXI.  The  Final  Test— Continued, 174 


WHAT   IS   INSPIRATION? 


I. 

PEELIMIKARY. 


A  FEW  months  ago,  at  the  close  of  a  letter  upon 
personal  affairs  to  a  highly  gifted  friend,  a  postscript 
was  added  containing  only  this  question :  "  What  is 
inspiration  ? " 

He  understood  it,  as  was  intended,  to  relate  wholly 
to  the  Bible.  His  reply  was  as  follows, — this  also  in 
postscript:  "You  ask, 'What  is  inspiration?'  Would 
that  the  Lord  would  raise  up  and  inspire  some  one  of 
his  servants  to  give  a  reasonably  clear  answer  to  your 
question.  I  have  not  found  such  an  one,  though  I 
have  been  looking  for  him  for  some  time." 

We  all  believe  that  God  often  gives  such  aid,  en- 
abling those  who  receive  it  to  use  their  faculties  to 
better  purpose  than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

A  remarkable  story  is  told  in  the  annals  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  concerning  George  Gillespie 
of  Edinburgh,  the  youngest  member  of  that  body.  It 
is  the  same  George  Gillespie  of  whom  it  is  related 
that  he  was  requested  by  the  Moderator,  in  view  of 
the  difficulty  that  was  found  in  framing  for  the  Gate- 


2  INSPIRATION. 

chism  a  suitable  definition  of  God,  to  lead  the  Assem- 
bly in  prayer  for  divine  aid,  and  the  first  sentence  of 
whose  prayer  was  immediately  and  unanimously 
adopted  as  containing  the  answer  sought.  This  fur- 
ther instance  of  a  similar  kind  is  on  record:  A 
day  was  appointed  by  the  Assembly  for  considering 
the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Great  anxiety  was  felt  by  the  Presbyterian  divines, 
principally  because  the  leader  of  the  Erastian  party, 
who  would  have  subjected  the  Church  to  the  State, 
was  John  Selden,  the  most  learned  man  in  England. 
He  was  especially  strong  in  Eabbinic  lore,  from  which, 
in  connection  with  the  constitution  of  the  Jewish 
synagogue,  his  opinions  on  the  subject  were  derived. 

His  argument  was  masterly,  and  apparently  unan- 
swerable. The  representatives  of  Presbyterianism 
stood  aghast  and  thought  their  cause  lost.  But  some 
one  who  had  observed  that  while  Selden  ^as  speak- 
ing the  young  Scotchman  Gillespie  seemed  to  be 
diligently  taking  notes,  earnestly  beckoned  to  him  to 
reply.  He  did  so  promptly,  taking  up  Selden's  argu- 
ment point  by  point,  and  tore  it  into  shreds  and  tat- 
ters, to  the  entire  discomfiture  of  Erastianism. 

After  the  debate  was  closed,  one  that  sat  near  Gil- 
lespie managed  to  get  hold  of  the  paper  on  which  he 
had  been  writing,  expecting  to  find  a  full  sketch  of 
his  effort,  or  at  least,  its  principal  points.  But  it  con- 
tained only  the  simple  words,  ''Da  lucem,  Bomine! 
Da  lucem,  Domine  !  "  (Give  hght,  O  Lord  !)  written 
again  and  again  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the 
page. 


WHAT  IS  IT?  3 

Tliere  is  no  subject  upon  wliicli  light  from  the 
source  of  all  light  is  at  present  more  needed  than  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  Let  all  Christian  hearts 
unite  in  imploring  it. 

The  most  suitable  expression  of  the  scope,  contents, 
and  spirit  of  the  following  pages  is  interrogative.     Is 
it  possible  to  adjust  our  theory  and  definition  of  the  ;| 
inspiring  grace  that  has  given  us  the  Bible  to  the,i 
facts  that  have  been  ascertained  by  its  critical  andjj 
conscientious  study  during  the  last  half  century  ?  1 

The  question  relates  to  the  theory  of  verbal  inspira- 
tion in  both  its  forms,  the  mechanical  and  the  plenary, 
as  not  in  accord  with  the  observed  phenomena  of  rev- 
elation. By  this  test  every  proposed  definition,  how- 
ever plausible  and  satisfactory  a  priori^  must  stand  or 
fall.  There  should  be  no  conflict  between  our  ideal 
and  the  actual.  Whatever  it  has  pleased  God  to  give 
us  as  suited  to  our  need  should  be  gratefully  accepted. 
Our  ideal,  if  different,  is  a  delusion. 

Hitherto,  by  common  consent,  the  subject  has  been 
referred  to  the  future.  Definition  has  been  held  in 
abeyance,  by  the  wisest  and  safest  men,  until  the 
ground  should  be  thoroughly  explored.  It  is  an  un- 
authorized assumption,  promulgated  under  circum- 
stances unfavorable  to  dispassionate  inquiry,  that 
henceforth  the  narrower  view  alone  shall  be  toler- 
ated, and  the  broader  stamped  out  by  ecclesiastical 
ostracism  and  censure. 

There  has  been  good  reason  for  delay,  but  now. 
with  better  reason  we  grapple  the  problem  hopefully. 
Yet  our  induction,  as  in  all  broad  questions  of  fact, 


4  INSPIEATION. 

requires  the  patient  study  of  various  conditions  and  a 
multitude  of  details.  It  must  proceed  slowly,  reserv- 
ing its  definitions  to  the  last. 

It  is  said  that  several  years  before  his  death  the 
late  eminent  and  venerable  ex-President  Theodore 
Woolsey  was  solicited  to  prepare  an  article  on  in- 
spiration for  a  leading  quarterly.  He  positively  de- 
clined, alleging  the  difficulty  of  tlie  subject,  and  avow- 
ing his  personal  incompetency.  He  added  that  the 
time  for  successful  effort  in  that  direction  had  not  yet 
come. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  he  expressed  the  feeling  of 
many  of  those  who  are  best  qualified  to  deal  with 
such  mysteries.  Yet,  without  the  slightest  misgi^nng, 
they  have  yielded  their  mind,  heart,  and  will  to  the 
Scriptures  as  given  by  the  inspiration  of  God.  Such 
undoubting  faith  is  not  at  all  inconsistent  with  a  con- 
fessed inability  to  explain  the  divine  energy  by  which 
the  result  was  produced.  This  has  special  reference 
to  the  phenomena  of  the  earlier  stages  of  revelation. 

We  may  feel  painfully  that  no  theory  has  been 
propounded  that  relieves  all  the  difficulties  of  the 
^  case,  yet  enjoy  an  unfaltering  confidence  that  the  Bi- 
j  ble  is  the  word  of  God.  For  our  confidence  does  not  de- 
pend upon  human  theories  concerning  its  production, 
but  upon  many  infallible  proofs  of  the  divine  origin 
both  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the  I^ew,  and  these 
intrinsic,  wrought  into  their  substance,  and    filling 
^them  with  light,  and  life,  and  power. 

Discussions  have  recently  become  rife  in  one  of  the 
largest  and    most    influential   bodies  of    Protestant 


WHAT  IS  IT?  6 

Christendom  about  the  inerrancy  of  Scripture.  It  is 
between  those  who  maintain  the  jnpst  Jiteral  verbal 
inspiration,  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other,  those 
who  hold  to  an  inspiration  in  the  thought  rather  than 
in  the  words,  that  produces  results  that  are  infallible 
in  all  matters  of  faith  and  practice,  but  which  does 
not  preclude  inaccuracies  in  matters  not  affecting  the 
substance  of  religious  truth. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  while  the  latter  po- 
sition is  earnestly  opposed  by  an  apparent  majority  in 
the  church  referred  to,  there  are  not  a  few,  still  num- 
bered with  that  majority,  who  have  become  convinced 
that  the  Bible  contains  some  inaccuracies  in  connection 
with  extra-religious  and  unimportant  matters,  but  have 
not  spoken  out  plainly.  They  cannot  yet  reconcile  this 
view  with  their  Confession  of  Faith,  and  utter  the  ad- 
mission reluctantly  and  scarcely  above  their  breath. 
They  consider  such  an  admission  premature  and  in- 
judicious, and  heartily  regret  that  entire  silence  upon 
the  subject  had  not  been  maintained.  They  do  not 
see  their  way  to  any  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  in- 
spiration that  recognizes  the  least  error  in  the  Bible 
without  a  dangerous  concession  to  those  who  deny  its 
divine  authority,  and  serious  disturbance  to  the  simple 
faith  that  receives  every  minutest  item  in  the  sacred 
Book  as  perfect  and  infallible.  While  they  are  under 
the  pressure  of  such  doubt,  we  can  scarcely  wonder 
that  they  are  intensely  disturbed. 

But  it  is  too  late  for  regrets.  The  issue  has  been 
raised  and  must  be  met  without  flinching.  It  impera- 
tively demands  all  reasonable  effort  to  furnish  such 


6  INSPIRATION. 

defining  and  explanatory  statements  concerning  the 
inspiration  of  prophets  and  apostles  as  shall  fairly 
cover  the  facts  that  confront  us  in  their  writings. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  principle  of  verbal 
inspiration  has  been  inflexibly  maintained  by  many  of 
our  representative  men, — intelligent,  conscientious, 
and  entitled  to  the  highest  respect  for  their  gracious 
qualities, — and  that  they  have  been  in  the  majority. 
It  is  painful  to  resist  them.  But  a  change  is  going 
on  before  our  eyes,  and  it  must  surely  prevail.  It  is 
not  a  caprice,  originating  in  fondness  for  novelty  and 
change,  but  a  legitimate  and  necessary  onward  step 
in  sacred  learning.  It  is  the  result  of  more  exhaust- 
ive study  of  the  Scriptures  by  improved  critical 
and  exegetical  methods,  leading  to  a  more  correct 
apprehension  of  their  ruling  principle  and  con- 
tents. 

It  should  be  noted,  too,  in  this  connection,  that 
knowledge  in  all  departments  is  characteristically 
progressive.  This  arises  from  the  constitution  of  the 
human  mind,  and  from  the  vastness  of  the  fields  to  be 
explored  on  every  side.  The  active  intellect,  having 
abundant  material  to  work  upon,  must  make  con- 
tinual acquisitions.  There  is  no  such  thing  possible, 
except  with  fossils  whose  organic  life  is  a  thing  of  the 
by-gone  ages,  as  settling  down  in  contentment  with 
the  past,  as  if  the  utmost  limit  of  attainment  had 
been  reached.  Most  of  all,  steady  advance  may  be 
expected  in  divine  knowledge,  the  partial  ever  be- 
coming more  perfect,  and  with  every  ascent  to  higher 
truth,  the  horizon  expanding  illimitably,  and  inviting 


WHAT  IS  IT?  7 

to  fresh  toil,  in  order  that  still  loftier  heights  may  be 
sjrmoiiiited. 

It  may  further  be  observed  among  these  prefatory 
generalities,  that  an  important  step  forward  is  seldom, 
if  ever,  simultaneous  on  the  part  of  the  great  mass, 
as  if  moved  by  a  common  impulse.  Usually  an  in- 
dividual explorer  makes  a  discovery,  and  another  here, 
and  another  there,  all  of  like  drift  and  bearing.  At 
first  a  very  few  will  grasp  and  accept  the  conclusion 
in  which  his  alleged  facts  converge,  perhaps  with 
some  necessary  modifications,  where  the  ardor  of  suc- 
cessful inquiry  has  carried  the  explorer  too  far.  As 
the  proof  of  its  correctness  becomes  more  convincing, 
others  and  still  others  will  join  in,  until  the  new 
truth  has  become  established  as  part  of  the  sum  of 
human  knowledge. 

There  is  always,  and  it  is  well  that  there  should  be, 
in  order  that  hasty  generalizations  and  rash  con- 
clusions may  be  avoided,  a  cautious  conservative 
element,  that  clings  fondly  and  tenaciously, — often  too 
fondly  and  tenaciously, — to  the  old  ;  that  resists  vigor- 
ously,— often,  but  not  always,  wisely, — all  abandon- 
ment of  positions  previously  occupied. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  sometimes  strong  and  cul- 
tivated minds  tend  toward  ultra-conservatism.  Con- 
servatism within  bounds  is  wholesome,  and  serviceable 
to  truth  in  restraining  ardent  and  too  credulous 
natures.  As  to  extreme  conservatism  and  extreme 
progressiveness,  it  is  hard  to  say  which  is  the  more 
harmful.  If  we  must  have  either,  it  is  well  that  we 
should  have  its  opposite  as  a  necessary  counterbalancing 


8  INSPIRATION. 

force.  Sound,  sober,  and  unbiassed  judgment  will 
find  the  truth  somewhere  between  them.  This  re- 
mark would  not  be  entitled  to  a  place  here  if  it  did 
not  seem  applicable  to  present  theological  differ- 
ences. 


II. 

VERBAL  OR  PLENARY  INSPIRATION. 

The  coDception  of  those  who  believe  in  the  iner- ■      >''^i^^-*^ 
rancy  of  all  the  contents  of  the  Bible,  implies  a  divine       -^vM.^ 
energy  that  so  completely  absorbs  and  controls  the        -     *^ 
human  composer,  as  to  ensure  absolute  truth  in  the 
most  unimportant   details,   rendering    the    slightest 
inaccuracy  impossible.     If  this   assumption  be  war- 
ranted, a  denial  of  the  flawless  perfection  of  these 
records,  or  of  any  part   of  them,  is  impugning  the 
truthfulness  of  God.  ,  ,--   .  / 

The  argument  is  a  priori,  and  very  simple  and  V  o^w^^^^ 
intelligible.  It  is  held  to  be  so  conclusive  that  any  "^V^ 
attempt  to  test  its  soundness  by  critical  examination 
is  scarcely  less  than  profane.  Let  the  reasoning  be 
approved,  and  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
becomes  virtually  axiomatic.  No  evidence  to  the 
contrary  is  entitled  to  the  slightest  consideration.  On 
this  principle  the  actual  must  be  forced  into  con- 
formity with  the  theoretical,  and  facts  that  present 
opposition  have  a  prospect  before  them  of  torture 
and  suffering. 

With  respect  to  apparent  inaccuracies,  it  is  con- 
tended that  the  text  may  have  been  accidentally  or 
intentionally  corrupted, — or  some   other  satisfactory 

(9) 


10      VERBAL  OR  PLENARY  INSPIRATION. 

explanation  will  be  discovered,  as  often  before  in 
cases  of  alleged  error, — and  that  at  all  hazards,  without 
admitting  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  the  original  text 
must  be  maintained,  infallible  and  unexceptionable  to 
the  letter.  "  Let  God  be  true  and  every  man  a 
liar." 

We  are  reminded  of  a  fierce  controversy  that  raged 
more  than  two  centuries  ago  between  mighty 
chieftains  in  Biblical  philology,  about  the  Greek  of 
the  New  Testament.  The  contending  parties  were 
called  respectively  Purists  and  Hellenists.  The 
former  claimed  that  the  language  of  this  highest  in- 
spiration must  have  been  the  most  perfect  of  its  kind 
— classic  Greek  of  the  purest  type.  How  could  the 
all-perfect  God  in  communicating  with  men  employ  a 
medium  so  far  below  the  highest  standard  as  de- 
servedly to  be  branded  as  corrupted  and  impure  ? 

The  opponents  of  this  a  priori  theory  simply 
appealed  to  facts.  They  examined  the  words  *and 
phrases  of  the  JNew  Testament,  and  exhibited  their 
prevailing  correspondence,  not  with  Greek  of  the 
golden,  classic  age,  but  with  Jewish  contemporaries  of 
the  K^ew  Testament  writers,  who  borrowed  their  con- 
structions, idioms,  and  forms  from  their  native 
Hebrew  ;  whose  finest  models  are  found  in  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures.  This  Greek,  as  compared 
with  the  language  of  Homer,  Herodotus,  and 
Demosthenes,  must  be  pronounced  corrupt. 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  mentioned  which  party  had 
the  best  of  it.  Who  cannot  see  now  a  wondrous 
providential  wisdom  by  which  a  language  was  pre- 


VERBAL  OR  PLENARY  INSPIRATION.       11 

pared  in  which  the  divine  thoughts  of  a  new  revela- 
tion, that  depended  on  Hebrew  pro})hets  and  bards 
for  its  germinal  principles  and  its  grandest  conceptions 
of  a  God  unknown  to  the  sages  of  Greece,  could  be 
more  adequately  expressed  than  by  the  finest  Greek 
that  ever  vibrated  upon  the  human  ear  ?  That 
splendid  language  in  its  earlier  and  purer  form,  with 
all  the  wealth  of  its  vocabulary,  could  not  give  utter- 
ance to  the  thoughts  that  were  now  to  enlighten  the 
world.  But  as  modernized,  or  even  vulgarized  and 
corrupted,  in  the  mongrel  Hellenistic  Greek,  it  was 
more  perfectly  adapted  to  the  gracious  purposes  of 
God  and  the  needs  of  men.  The  illustration  has  a 
bearing  upon  our  present  line  of  thought  which  we 
need  not  more  distinctly  exhibit. 

An  apparent  majority  in  the  recent  discussionsj 
esteemjhe^riptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,/ 
all  of  them  equally,  to  be  the  inspired  and  inerrant 
word  of  God  for  all  the  world  and  for  all  time,  aa 
truly  as  if  they  had  come  immediately  from  God, 
word  by  word,  without  human  intervention.  Yet 
the  idea  of  verbal  inspiration  in  the  more  mechanical 
sense,  regarding  the  writers  as  mere  amanuenses,  has 
been  generally  abandoned.  It  is  now  freely  admitted 
that  differences  in  style  and  in  modes  of  expression 
that  exhibit  individuality,  forbid  the  thought  of 
their  writing,  as  if  from  dictation,  by  the  injection  of 
words  apart  from  any  normal  intellectual  process  of 
their  own. 

The  substituted  conception  is  called  by  preference 
Plenary  Inspiration.     It  is  that  the  unerring  divine 


12      VERBAL  OR  PLENARY  INSPIRATION. 

^'^' ,'  wisdom  takes  possession  of  the  prophet  and  controls 

every  activity  of  his  mind  and  heart,  and  that  its 

I  expression    of   truth  is   human   only  in_fprm — nay, 

more,  that  its  form  is  absolutely,  though  mediately, 

determined  in  every  syllable  and  letter.  For  it  is  held 

that  indirectly,  through  the  medium  of  human  facul- 

i  ties,  yet  no  less  truly,  the  words  are  produced  by  the 

!  inspiring  power.     They  are  consequently  of  immuta- 

1  ble  significance  and  value,  and  infallible  through  all 

time  as  a  directory  for  thought  and  conduct. 

If  the  a  priori  argument  be  valid  this  ideal  perfect- 
ness,  quite  apart  from  any  thought  of  the  intrinsic  im- 
portance of  a  given  record,  is  unquestionable.  All 
personal  deficiency  in  the  prophet  must  have  been 
miraculously  supplied.  There  can  be  no  failure  of 
memory  or  lack  of  information,  philosophical  or 
scientific,  geographical  or  historical.  There  can  occur 
neither  solecism  nor  anachronism — no  inapt  quotation 
or  illustration,  no  dialectic  flaw,  and  scarcely  a  rhetor- 
ical infelicity. 

Must  this  beautiful  conception,  which  anchors  the 
soul  fast  to  permanent  and  unchangeable  truth,  and  ex- 
cludes every  blemish  from  the  Scriptures,  be  abandoned 
or  even  modified  ?  We  answer,  however  reluctantly, 
that  it  must  surely  be  put  aside,  unless  it  corresponds 
with  the  observed  fact,  and  is  confirmed  by  other  than 
a  priori  reasoning.  Yet  the  questioner  has  the  right 
to  ask,  what  new  discoveries  require  the  modification, 
and  enable  us  to  describe  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures  more  intelligently  ? 

It  is  the  point  toward  which  without  solicitation  we 


VERBAL  OR  PLENARY  INSPIRATION.       13 

are  steadily  pressing.     But  there  can  be  no  idealizing 
here.     Our  conclusion  must  be  well  considered,  and 
founded    upon    a    broad   induction   of    facts.     The  ^ul<^Hr3rC^ 
problem  to  be  solved  requires  imperatively  the  care- :  ^[^"^^^J^ttX 
ful,  dispassionate   examination   of  the  writings  that    ^J"^.^  »^^ 
have  come  to  be  accepted  as  having  their  origin  in  the  ,  ^.::^-^  '^^  7 
mspiration   of   God.     This    can    only   be    properly    /^^^x~^^^  i^ 
accomplished  by  men  of  acute  and  honest  minds,  and  '  c//^.:^^^ 
thoroughly   trained   for   their   work.     It  must,  too,    ^^       r^ 
have  extended  over  suflScient  time  to  admit  of  the 
revision  of  hasty  judgment,  and  the  abandonment  of 
hypotheses  not  supported  by  adequate  evidence. 

Yet  the  time  need  not  be  immeasurably  protracted,  |) 
inasmuch  as  a  discovery  of  inaccuracies  in  any  apprecia-  [ 
ble  degree  must  compel  us  to  revise  our  theory  of, 
inspiration,  if  it  be  one  that  requires  absolute  iner-,f 
rancy.     Neither  should  we  ignore  whatever  labor  has 
been  already  expended  in  this  investigation.     Indee^, 
wedistinctly;  claim  that  facts  have  already  been  dis- 
covered  that  discredit  the  exactness  _  of  statement  so 
earnestly  affirmed,  and  that  enable  those  who  scoff  at    ^  .j 
supernatural  revelation  to  work  with  terrible  effect  in   {^ 'cjx  /.i^ 
gathering  into  their  own  camp  those  not  thoroughly  h^uC^  <yCx^ 
grounded  in  the  Christian  faith,  and  even  in  unset-^^^V^     4 
thng  many  who  thought  tiiemselves  upon  sure  ground,  f^t^f^  i^^ 
It  is  the  deep  conviction  of  this  that  has  impelled — or  c^«'-'^^^»t»^  ( 
we  might  say  compelled — the  preparation  of  these  ^^     ^1!^^^ 
pages.     There  may  be  infinite  peril  in  refusing  to  iH^cKi'irO^ 
strengthen  our  position,  if  we  find  that  which  we  ^^  ^A~^ 
have  hitherto  occupied  to  be  no  longer  tenable.      Or    '^ '.      ._ 
even,  like  honest  men,  if  it  be  fairly  proven  that  the  ^/^  ^/^-yu^ 


14       VERBAL   OR  PLENARY  IXSPIRATION. 

inspiration  of  the  Bible  is  a  delusion,  at  whatever 
sacrifice  of  cherished  hope,  let  us  know  the  truth. 

It  is  not  apt  to  occur  to  those  who  without  difficul- 
ty maintain  their  souls  in  stalwart  and  unflinching 
faith,  that  a  solution  of  moral  paradoxes,  or  of 
apparent  incongruities  and  contradictions,  that  is 
wholly  satisfactory  to  themselves  and  to  others  of  like 
proclivities  and  prepossessions,  may  be  of  little  value 
to  those  who  tend  in  the  opposite  direction.  Elaborate 
and  ingenious  explanations  and  replies  may  be  ab- 
solutely conclusive  to  the  one  class,  whose  souls  are  at 
rest,  unconsciously  predisposed  to  accept  any  plausi- 
ble statement  in  reply  to  an  objector,  yet  may  be  per- 
fectly irrelevant  and  worthless  to  the  other — and  this 
other  often  includes  men  of  earnest  soul,  who  would 
give  the  world  to  feel  their  feet  standing  upon  solid 
ground.  The  former  are  in  no  peril.  They  have 
usually  an  inward  ground  of  certainty,  which  is  quite 
independent  of  questions  that  touch  only  the  surface 
of  divine  truth.  It  is  the  latter  class,  sinking  into 
depths  of  darkness  and  despair,  whom  we  would  gain, 
if  possible,  for  truth  and  for  God. 

It  may  be  said  triumphantly,  as  if  this  ought  to 
silence  all  questioning,  that  it  cannot  be  demonstrated 
that  the  original  text  contained  a  single  error,  and 
that  the  Bible,  as  we  have  it,  may  have  been  various- 
ly mutilated  by  carelessness  or  ignorance  in  tran- 
scribers or  editors.  But  how  weak  in  such  a  matter 
is  a  negation  or  a  merely  possible  conjecture.  And 
what  if  some  of  these  almost  frantic  ones  prefer 
to  accept  the  conclusions  of  many  eminent,  candid, 


VERBAL  OR  PLENARY   INSPIRATION.       15 

and  patient  Christian  scholars,  and  honestly  believe 
that  it  has  been  demonstrated,  or,  at  least,  is  beyond 
reasonable  doubt,  that  even  as  they  came  from  the 
hands  of  their  original  penmen,  the  books  were  not 
immaculate  ?  Receiving  from  the  church  its  idea 
of  inspiration  as  necessarily  perfect,  they  must  be- 
lieve that  a  single  ascertained  error  vitiates  the  whole 
— that  if  the  Book  is  not  infallible  in  all  its  parts, 
containing  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  it  is  not  divine — that  we  can  have 
no  Bible,  if  not  an  inerrant  Bible.  Alas,  for  the 
poor  souls  whose  last  hope  of  finding  God  is  thus 
blasted.  By  the  cogent  arguments  of  one  body  of 
distinguished  Christian  teachers,  they  are  compelled 
to  believe  that  no  book  that  contains  any  error  can  be 
divinely  inspired.  By  another  equally  distinguished 
and  trustworthy  group,  they  are  assured  that  the 
Bible  contains  many  errors.  So,  under  the  alternate 
guidance  of  great  Biblical  leaders,  they  pass  off 
into  the  outer  darkness. 

Surely  it  is  time  for  an  adjustment,  a  reconstruction 
— time  to  find  some  new  ground  in  defending  the 
Scriptures  against  the  assaults  of  scepticism.  This 
must  come,  if  at  all,  from  understanding  them  better 
ourselves. 


III. 


INSPIRATION^  AND  THE  EAELIER  BIB- 
LICAL STUDY. 

"What  did  the  sagacious  Christian  scholar  mean, 
who  declined  to  grapple  with  the  subject  of  inspira- 
tion on  the  ground  of  his  personal  incompetence? 
He  must  have  been  convinced  that  the  current  defini- 
tions, for  reasons  which  he  did  not  state,  were  no 
longer  satisfactory — that  embarrassments  had  arisen, 
in  view  of  which,  at  least  for  the  present,  the  task  of 
preparing  a  reliable  substitute,  was  too  great  for  him. 
Nothing  less  than  a  fresh  inspiration  would  suffice. 

And  what  did  the  good  Dr.  Woolsey  feel  in  the  air 
— what  sign  of  the  times  did  he  discern — that  war- 
ranted his  half  prophecy  of  a  better  time  coming,  per- 
haps not  very  far  off,  when  inspiration  should  be  bet- 
ter understood,  and  attempts  at  definition  might  be 
undertaken  more  hopefully  ?  His  "  not  yet "  is  very 
significant. 

He  must  have  referred,  as  essential  to  success,  to 
more  careful,  dispassionate,  and  exhaustive  study  of 
the  Bible,  in  order  that  all  the  data  for  an  intelh'gent 
estimate  of  the  nature  of  inspiration  might  be  ob- 
tained. He  was  aware  that  such  study  was  being 
prosecuted  with  intense  enthusiasm  by  competent 
(16) 


THE  EARLIER  BIBLICAL  STUDY.  17 

men.  It  was  all  the  better  for  the  sake  of  fairness, 
and  of  sound  conclusions,  that  the  friends  and  the 
foes  of  supernatural  religion  were  engaged  with  like 
diligence  in  winnowing  the  mass,  searching  for  facts 
that  might  be  helpful  in  solving  the  problems  of  the 
wonderful  Book. 

We  are  glad  to  believe  that  President  Woolsey  saw 
influences  at  work  that  were  clearing  the  way  for  an 
intelligent  view  of  inspiration — one  that  should  bring 
reUef  to  minds  harassed  bj  doubt,  and  fast  tending 
toward  absolute  scepticism,  —  a  consummation  de- 
voutly to  be  wished  for,  the  great  desideratum  of  the 
present  stage  of  religious  advance.  Of  what  conse- 
quence is  the  settlement  of  theological  differences  on 
the  minor  details  of  our  Christian  faith  in  comparison 
with  this? 

The  first  thing  we  have  to  do  in  order  to  justify  as 
not  premature  an  attempt  to  penetrate  the  mystery  of 
inspiration,  as  far  as  is  possible  under  our  finite  limi- 
tations, is  to  give  some  description  of  the  progress  and 
present  status  of  Biblical  science,  in  its  bearing  upon 
the  subject  under  consideration. 

We  must  begin  with  the  period  of  the  Reformation, 
tracing  rapidly  the  course  and  results  of  theological 
research  in  connection  with  the  Bible,  out  of  which 
have  grown  the  contrary  opinions  that  are  now  dis- 
tracting us.  We  shall  then  understand  how  the  more 
rigid  view  of  inspiration,  that  is  now  being  pressed,  as 
belonging  to  the  marrow  of  orthodoxy  in  the  Presby- 
terian sense,  has  obtained  its  firm  hold  upon  many 
minds,  even  while  to  all  appearance  it  wjis  an  open 


18  INSPIRATION. 

question  whether  inspiration  is  in  the  letter  or  in  the 
substance — whether  it  is  verbal  or  conceptual. 

We  shall  also  discover  by  what  discipline  an  im- 
pression just  as  deep  and  strong  has  been  produced 
upon  others,  and  for  the  best  reasons  is  steadily  gain- 
ing ground,  that  the  former  view  is  erroneous  and 
must  be  essentially  modified. 

It  is  a  phase  of  the  subject  that  has  not  yet  come  to 
the  surface  with  sufficient  distinctness  in  the  recent  agi- 
tation, that  the  rival  conceptions  of  inspiration  are  con- 
nected respectively  with  the  two  principal  types  of 
///  theological  acquisition  whose  material  lies  before  us 
^,,  in  the  Scriptures, — Systematic  and  Biblical  Theology. 
This  important  circumstance  places  us  under  the  ne- 
cessity in  connection  with  our  subject  of  examining 
them  carefully  in  their  inception  and  distinguishing 
characteristics. 

The  Biblical  work  of  the  reformers  was  multifari- 
ous. Principally  it  was  expository.  They  knew  noth- 
yl^;  ing  of  the  refinements  of  exegetical  science.  These 
belonged  to  the  unexplored  future.  With  vigorous 
intellect  and  divinely  illuminated,  they  unfolded  the 
saving  truth  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  people,  who 
needed  and  craved  the  knowledge  of  which  they  had 
been  deprived  by  priestly  despotism.  It  was  dealing 
out  the  bread  of  life  to  the  famishing.  Their  exposi- 
tions were  in  a  measure  controversial,  but  only  so  far 
as  to  deliver  the  consciences  of  men  from  the  sophis- 
tries that  enslaved  them. 

As  they  found  occasion  they  exhibited  the  distinct- 
ive features  of  the  various  sacred  writings,  and  inci- 


THE  EARLIER  BIBLICAL  STUDY.  19 

dentally  said  wbat  seemed  necessary  of  their  author- 
ship, inspiration,  and  divine  authority.  No  theory  of 
verbal  inspiration  hampered  them,  for  they  sometimes 
separated  themselves  from  traditional  opinions  on 
these  subjects.  But  their  treatment  of  such  matters 
was  not  scientific,  and  they  made  no  attempt  to  cover 
the  whole  ground  of  Biblical  Introduction  or  any  of 
its  parts. 

As  for  the  Textual  Criticism  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  it  received  early  attention  from  men  of 
high  scholarly  attainments.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
dwell  on  it  here.  Most  manuals  introductory  to  the 
study  of  the  Bible  furnish  a  sufficient  account  of  all 
that  was  done  in  the  correction  of  the  sacred  text  dur- 
ing the  Reformation  period,  and  of  all  thereafter  down 
to  the  present  time.  This  was  the  work  of  specialists 
in  the  original  languages  of  the  Bible. 

The  free  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  connection  with 
reformation  work  naturally  developed  differences  of 
opinion  about  matters  not  fundamental.  The  Bible 
was  agreed  upon  with  entire  unanimity  as  the  divine 
rule  of  faith,  proclaiming  pardon  and  acceptance  with 
God  only  through  believing  in  Christ  as  crucified  for 
sin.  But  the  same  statement  of  doctrine  upon  minor 
points  was  not  acceptable  to  all.  During  a  protracted 
period  the  labors  of  theologians  most  competent  to  such 
work  were  principally  directed  to  shaping  methodical 
formularies,  the  Creeds  and  Confessions  of  Protestant  JA/l^Lfi 
Christendom.  These  summaries  of  doctrine  in  their  \s/r^i^ 
logical  arrangement  constitute  the  basis  of  Systematic 
Theology.     They  embody  the  condensed  substance  of 


i-m^i 


I 


20  '"^-"^^j      INSPIRATION. 

I  the  Biblical  study  of  the  reformers,  of  which  System- 

I  atic  Theology  is  the  expansion.  ' 

The  craftsmen  employed  in  this  branch  of  theologi- 
I  cal  discipline  were  able  and  laborious,  but  their  sys- 
tem was  mechanical  and  artificial.  Its  outline  was 
constructed  on  strictly  logical  principles,  resembling 
in  character  and  method  the  work  of  the  mediaeval 
schoolmen.  Its  divisions  and  subdivisions  were  ar- 
ranged with  admirable  symmetry  and  precision. 
Careful  definitions  and  abundant  explanatory  and  dia- 
lectic statements  prepared  the  way  for  citations  from 
Scripture.  Each  successive  point  must  have  its  proof 
text,  perhaps  several.  For  a  century  or  two  theologi- 
cal thought  was  largely  absorbed  in  detaching  frag- 
ments from  the  mass  of  inspired  material.  After 
these  had  been  kneaded  and  perhaps  softened  by  the 
heat  of  controversy  into  a  condition  plastic  enough 
for  such  a  purpose,  they  were  pressed  into  the  moulds 
which  accurate  and  artistic  manipulation,  partly  me- 
chanical and  partly  metaphysical,  had  prepared  for 
them.  The  labor  of  these  systematizers  was  like  the 
toil  of  the  bees  storing  the  sweets  they  have  gathered 
into  the  cells  previously  constructed  on  the  scientific 
principles  implanted  in  bee-nature  from  the  begin- 
ning. So  these  painstaking  theologians  improved 
each  shining  hour  according  to  the  capacities  and  lim- 
itations that  were  theirs  by  heredity  and  training. 
Yet  they  did  not  and  could  not  claim  that  their  work, 
like  that  of  the  bees,  was  perfect  of  its  kind.  The 
material  has  often  been  recast.  By  successive  efforts 
the  divine  doctrines  have  been  more  lucidly  stated, 


/>^ 


THE  EARLIER  BIBLICAL  STUDY.  21 

more  ingeniously  adjusted,  and  more  thoroughly 
fortified  at  every  point  where  weakness  was  dis- 
covered. 

The  principal  improvement  in  later  elaborations 
arises  from  the  advance  in  exegetical  science  during 
the  last  fifty  years.  But  the  authors  of  many  of  the 
ablest  theological  text-books,  which  are  still  appealed 
to  as  great  authorities,  were  not  accomplished  in  exe- 
gesis. Their  citations  were  often  made  without  the 
slightest  regard  to  their  setting  or  connection  in  the 
Sacred  Volume,  as  usually  determining  the  thought 
in  the  writer's  mind.  A  close  examination  on  sound 
hermeneutical  principles  often  exhibits  a  meaning 
quite  different  from  that  assumed  by  the  dogmati- 
cian.  Now  and  then  they  dash  upon  any  form  of 
words  in  the  current  version  of  the  Bible  that  seems 
pertinent,  and  the  student  must  find  in  the  exegetical 
room  a  corrective  for  the  errors  of  his  system. 

But  whatever  improvement  has  been  made  in  the 
method  of  imparting  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  contents  of  Scripture,  its  ruling  presupposition  re- 
mains the  same.     The  working  hypothesis  in  System-| 
atic  Theology  is  that  of  verbal  inspiration,  uniform  in/| 
^erfectness  and  value  from  beginning  to  end.     This' 
is  not  only  incorporated  in  its  definitions,  but  exhib- 
ited in  all  its  details.    A  disposition  is  now  most  mani- 
fest to  cling  to  it  with  the  utmost  tenacity  and  exclu- 
siveness,  as  if  the  slightest  weakness  at  this  point  were 
a  fatal  concession  to  the  opponents  of  supernatural 
revelation.     The  question  is,  whether  this  hypothesis 
can  stand  before  the  freer  and  more  exhaustive  inves- 


22  INSPIRATION. 

/  tigation  to  which  we  have  been  constrained  bj  irie- 

/  sistible  forces  from  within  and  without. 

We  shall  presently  give  more  thought  to  this  branch 
of  ministerial  training.  But  we  can  already  see  very 
clearly  in  what  connection  the  principal  difficulty  in 
securing  general  acceptance  for  any  other  view  of  in- 
spiration will  probably  be  found. 


lY. 
TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST. 

We  are  ready  now  for  a  postponed  question.  If 
the  simple  view  of  inspiration  that  anchors  the  soul 
fast  to  the  inerrant,  permanent,  and  unchangeable 
truth,  must  be  exchanged  for  some  other,  what  new 
discoverigS_xequire  the  exchange,  and  enable  us  to 
describe  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  more  intel- 
ligently ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  found  in  a  more 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  character  and  import 
of  these  Scriptures  as  exhibited  in  Biblical  Theology, 
with  the  aid  of  the  indispensable  adjunct,  the  Higher 
Criticism. 

We  might  ask,  as  a  counter  question  to  the  above,  [ 
whether  the  inquirer  is  sure  that  divine  communica-^ 
tions,  through  an  inspired  prophet,  recorded  in  the 
Bible,  always  exhibit  perfect,  permanent,  and  un- 
changeable truth,  and  are  never,  as  imperfect  and 
unworthy  to  endure,  modified  and  superseded  in 
adaptation  to  improved  conditions  at  a  subsequent 
time. 

One  would  suppose  that  the  ready  unanimity  with 
which  we  agree  Jthat  the  Levitical  worship  has  been 
thus  superseded,  should  prepare  us  for  other  changes 

'  ^^^^  /-. 


24         TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST. 

on  the  same  principle.  It  is  a  hint  for  the  future. 
Its  ground  will  appear  more  distinctly  as  we  advance. 
It  is  important  to  state  here  more  fully  what  these 
sciences  are,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  scarcely 
know  them  except  as  names,  yet  are  deeply  interested 
in  discussions  that  relate  to  the  inerrancy  of  Scripture 
and  the  nature  of  inspiration.  It  should  be  known 
that  they  are  indeed  sciences,  and  that  their  principles 
and  contents  are  of  great  value  in  their  bearing  upon 
our  present  subject  of  thought. 

Until  within  the  last  twenty-five  years  Biblical 
Theology  has  been  almost  unknown  except  by  those 
fully  acquainted  with  the  theological  literature  of 
Germany.  Systematic,  sometimes  called  Dogmatic 
or  Didactic  Theology,  previously  held  an  exclusive 
position  in  the  orderly  exhibition  of  divine  truth. 
The  title  of  neither  indicates  very  sharply  the  dis- 
tinction between  them,  for  either  designation  is  in 
some  degree  descriptive  of  both  methods,  the  System- 
atic and  the  Biblical. 

They  agree  in  finding  in  the  Scriptures  a  compre- 
hensive and  reliable  statement  of  the  facts  and  princi- 
ples of  God's  moral  administration  in  the  earth — a 
';  spiritual  religion,  embracing  all  the  material  for  the 
1  education  of  our  higher  nature,  and  relatively  perfect 
I  in  its  wise  adaptation  to  the  condition  and  needs  of 
men  during  their  earthly  existence.     It  follows  that 
Systematic  Theology  is  Biblical,  as  well  as  the  so- 
called  Biblical. 

The  two  Theologies  also  agree  in  recognizing  a 
relation  between  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  that 


TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST.  25 

they  can  only  be  adequately  apprehended   in  their j 
mutual  bearings  and  interdependence  ;  and  each  meth- 1 
od  has  its  framework  and  principle  of  coherence.     It  | 
follows  that  Biblical  Theology  is  systematic,  as  well 
as  the  so-called  Systematic. 

But  as  already  intimated  the  frameioorh  of  Sys- 
tematic Theology  is  artificial  and  scholastic,  rather 
than  Biblical.  It  distributes  the  contents  of  the 
Bible  into  general  heads,  and  then  by  logical  gradation 
descends  from  generals  to  particulars.  It  is  pre- 
eminently scientific  and  symmetrical,  but  cold,  meta- 
physical, abstract,  and  lifeless.  It  assumes  that  the 
whole  truth  is  known  upon  every  subject,  and  can  be 
stated  with  such  precision  and  accuracy  in  definitions, 
theses,  and  dialectic  formulae,  that  it  can  be  fully 
apprehended  by  faculties  capable  of  mastering  any 
other  systems  of  science  or  philosophy. 

Systematic  Theology  is  Biblical,  but  it  treats  the 
Bible  as  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  religious  truth,  its 
elements  indiscriminately  commingled,  and  requi?'ing 
severe  and  accomplished  critical  sagacity, — a  purely 
intellectual  process, — in  order  to  bring  its  statements 
into  some  intelligible  order  and  coherence  under  the 
most  approved  methods  of  classification.  It  gives 
scope  to  the  finest  and  most  subtle  tact  and  ingenuity 
in  lining  up  inferentially  any  chasms  that  may  be 
discovered,  in  removing  excrescences,  or,  at  least, 
smoothing  them  down  so  that  they  shall  not  repul- 
sively obtrude,  in  reconciling  apparent  contradictions, 
and  in  furnishing  shrewd  replies  to  objections  from 
whatever  source  they  may  emanate. 


26         TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST. 

The  truth  is  thus  introduced  to  the  world  in  good 
form,  that  is,  truth  as  estimated  by  the  theologian  and 
his  circle.  It  commends  itself  to  cultured  intellect 
as  worthy  of  all  respect,  and  entitled  to  a  distinguished 
place  among  the  sciences  into  which  the  sum  of  human 
knowledge  is  distributed. 

Moreover,  it  has  long  stood  approved  as  an  indis- 
pensable part  of  the  scholastic  cultivation  to  which 
the  minds  of  the  professional  conservators  and  ex- 
pounders of  divine  truth  must  be  subjected  before 
they  are  qualified  for  their  office.  Every  minute 
point  in  theology  is  in  its  right  place,  and  the  system 
can  be  easily  memorized,  and  always  held  ready  for 
use  upon  suitable  occasion.  The  young  man  who  has 
fully  mastered  his  system  of  Didactic  and  Polemic 
Theology  has  a  complete  outfit.  If  properly  hus- 
banded, it  may  last  him  for  a  lifetime.  As  a  warrior 
in  the  ranks  of  the  church  militant,  he  can  never  be 
put  to  shame  before  the  adversary. 

The  term  JBihlical  Theology  was  first  used  as  the 
title  of  a  book  in  1792  by  C.  F.  Ammon,  a.  rationalist. 
His  view  is  without  vitality  or  coherence,  and  based 
on  no  discriminating  definition.  It  entirely  disre- 
gards the  suggestion  of  Gabler  five  years  earlier,  that 
it  is  the  historic  principle  that  distinguishes  Biblical 
Theology  from  Dogmatic.  Moreover,  it  is  far  less 
Biblical  than  the  scholasticism  against  whose  inexora- 
ble logic  it  rebels. 

Various  theories,  verging  more  and  more  toward  a 
correct  conception,  were  propounded  during  the  next 
forty  years  by  L.  Baur,  Kaiser,  De  Wette,  and  others. 


TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST.  27 

Tlie  mythical  hypothesis  of  Strauss  in  his  "  Life  of 
Jesus,"  and  the  "  tendency  "  theory  of  F.  Baur,  the 
father  of  the  Tiibingen  Theology,  called  forth  the 
masterly  replies  of  Neander  in  his  "Planting  and 
Training  of  the  Christian  Church  "  (1832),  an  im- 
portant step  in  advance.  It  is  based  on  a  sound 
historic  criticism  of  the  New  Testament  writings,  the 
principle  of  which  is  easily  carried  over  to  the  Old. 
It  is  that  of  a  normal  historical  development  of  divine 
truth,  in  a  series  of  successive  revelations.  The  course 
and  order  of  this  development  are  ascertained  by  the 
careful  examination  of  the  inspired  writings  in  the 
fundamental  conception  of  each,  and  in  their  mutual 
relations  as  essential  parts  of  a  harmonious  and  con- 
Bistent  whole. 

It  is  in  the  "  Biblical  Theology  of  the  New  Testa-'^  S  *^'^. 
ment,"  by  C  F.  Schmid  (Tiibingen,  1853),  and  thej)pst:j^^^ 
humous  "  Theology  of  the  Old  Testament,"  by  G.  F.  cM^Xr  t 
Oehler  (Tiibingen,  1873),  that  the  subject  first  receives  K*"^"^  ^ 
a  definition  and  treatment  that  establish  its  claim  to  J^^^^^'^Q 
be  recognized  as  a  special  and  independent  training.  ^-^^  ^ 
They  understand  by  Biblical  Theology,  the  historico-  ^ 
genetic  presentation  of  revealed  religion  in  the 
canonical  writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
They  distinguish  it  from  Systematic  Theology  by  its 
historical  character,  while  by  its  limitation  to  the 
canonicarwrltlngs  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  it 
is  separated  from  Historical  Theology,  and  character- 
ized as  an  integral  part  of  Exegetical  Theology. 
These  discriminations  by  Schmid  are  of  great  im- 
portance. 


28         TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST. 

Biblical  Theology  has  its  beginning  and  source  in 
patient  and  thorough  exegetical  training  and  labor. 
Its  exegesis  is  historico-grammatical,  but  always  with 
due  regard  to  the  unity,  and  living  coherence  and 
symmetry  that  distinguish  a  progressive  revelation 
of  divine  wisdom,  grace,  and  power  in  connection  with 
sin  and  redemption.  It  is  important  to  notice  that  it 
embraces,  not  only  didactic  utterances,  abstract  an- 
nouncements of  truth,  but  persons,  events,  institutions, 
and  the  whole  concrete  substance  of  history  in  con- 
nection with  the  divine  administration  of  human 
affairs. 

Biblical  Theology,  in  pursuance  of  its  historic 
principle,  follows  the  order  of  revelation  in  the 
Sacred  Books.  It  presents  truth,  not  in  preconceived 
logical  combinations,  but  in  accordance  with  the  general 
development  required  for  the  education  of  man  in  the 
successive  stages  of  his  existence  upon  the  earth.  It 
begins  with  the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  and  ad- 
vances step  by  step  in  successive  disclosures,  adapting 
itself  to  a  growing  capacity  in  men  for  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  highest  truth,  and  ever  tending  toward 
the  culmination  of  God's  grace  in  a  completed 
redemption. 

Revelation,  as  considered  by  this  science,  keeps 
pace  with  Providence  and  the  course  of  human  events 
as  divinely  directed,  as  well  as  with  the  intellectual 
and  moral  advancement  of  its  subjects.  Hence 
Biblical  Theology  takes  careful  note,  as  part  of  its 
material,  not  only  of  inspired  communications,  the 
words  of  God  through  the  mouth  of  a  prophet,  but  as 


TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST.  29 

above  stated,  of  everything  connected  with  the  divine 
ordering  of  human  affairs  by  which  men  might 
attain  a  fuller  knowledge  of  God,  and  their  purposes 
and  conduct  might  be  swayed  in  the  right  direction. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Biblical  Theology  regards 
the  matter  of  revelation,  not  abstractly,  as  made  up  of 
certain  logical  propositions  to  be  proved  and  main- 
tained by  the  most  conclusive  dialectic  methods,  the 
substance  and  sinew  of  an  inspired  System  of  Theol- 
ogy, but  concretely,  as  wrought  by  the  divine  Spirit 
into  human  existence,  individual  and  social,  and 
adapting  itself  to  all  varieties  of  character,  condition, 
and  circumstances  that  diversify  the  race. 

In  Biblical  Theology  the  truth,  as  embodied  in  the 
Sacred  Books  in  facts  and  events  more  than  in  words, 
is  a  living  organism  that  separates  from  everything 
extraneous  to  itself.  It  exhibits  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  Kew,  with  all  their  coherences  and  contrasts, 
as  parts  of  a  great  whole,  and  the  relation  between 
them  as  not  accidental,  nor  arbitrary,  nor  mechanical, 
but  natural,  necessary,  and  vital. 

Its  central  idea  and  ruling  principle,  its  inspiration,  is 
the  development  of  a  gracious  purpose  of  God  per- 
taining to  the  salvation  of  the  human  race  as  a  fact  in 
the  course  of  accomplishment.  The  science  wliich 
treats  the  divine  revelation  in  the  Scriptures  most 
philosophically  and  correctly,  and  with  the  clearest 
discernment  of  its  grandeur,  is  that  which  follows  the 
course  and  order  of  its  expansion  from  a  feeble  begin- 
ning till  its   full  glory   is  realized  in  the  ultimate 


30  TWO  THEOLOGIES  IN  CONTRAST. 

triumph  of  the  grace  and  righteousness  of  God  over 
all  evil  in  the  ascension  glorj  of  Christ. 

We  have  precious  material  in  this  whole  description 
for  our  promised  reconstruction.  It  must  surely  be 
remembered  in  our  a  posteriori  definition,  toward 
which  by  easy  stages  we  are  moving  forward. 

h^o^xy^^J--^  f^^^\  /"i^'^*^  Mo^V)''  ^  A-^^ 


V. 

THE   HIGHER   CRITICISM,   DESTRUCTIVE 
AND  CONSTRUCTIYE. 

Biblical  Theology  is  a  growth.  It  is  becoming 
more  and  more  a  strong,  beautiful,  and  fruitful 
growth.  It  is  mainly  the  product  of  two  living  forces, 
that  have  been  vigorously  at  work  for  years.  They 
are  Biblical  Exegesis  and  the  Higher  Criticism. 

The  three  are  inseparable,  and  have  matured  co- 
ordinately.  Their  advance  has  been  quickened  and 
determined  by  the  activity  of  opposing  forces  against 
which  they  have  combined. 

It  will  be  understood  that  it  was  for  the  assailants 
of  revealed  truth  to  choose  their  point  of  attack,  to 
which  its  defenders  must  necessarily  accommodate 
themselves.  Wherever  an  onset  is  made,  the  repel- 
ling force  must  be  rallied.  Every  thrust  must  be 
at  once  warded  off  by  the  quickly  advanced  shield 
and  buckler.  Every  mine  must  be  met  by  a  counter- 
mine. Every  sophism  must  be  exposed,  and  an- 
nihilated by  sound  logic.  Every  misrepresentation 
must  be  nullified  by  correct  statement. 

Those  who  read  the  Bible  devoutly  as  part  of  their 
religious  discipline,  finding  in  it  strength  and  salvation, 
but  who  can  spare  no  time  from  their  daily  pursuits  for 

(31) 


32  THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM, 

its  careful  study,  are  not  usually  aware  what  fierce 
battles  have  been  fought  over  every  inch  of  the 
surface.  To  them  it  is  all  holy  ground.  They  come 
to  some  rough  places,  to  some  things  that  are  un- 
intelligible, to  some  early  records  that  seem  incon- 
sistent with  the  spirit  and  substance  of  the  Gospel. 
But  not  willing  to  be  perplexed,  they  do  not  dwell 
upon  them  anxiously.  They  find  some  relief  in 
remembering  that  the  statements  in  question  are  con- 
nected with  long  past  conditions,  and  were  not  in- 
tended for  their  guidance.  It  is  enough  for  them 
that  they  see  throughout  the  whole  mass  of  writings 
the  footprints  of  the  Almighty,  and  they  are  content 
to  leave  everything  doubtful  to  be  cleared  up  by  the 
brighter  light  of  the  future.  Taken  as  a  whole,  what 
they  find  here  is  sacred  and  delightful. 

The  battle  with  the  destructive  school  in  its  various 
branchings  began  with  its  adoption  of  a  false  exegesis. 
As  a  first  and  ruling  principle  it  discredited  all  state- 
ments that  involve  the  supernatural.  There  were  the 
'  accommodation  theory '  of  Semler,  the '  moral  interpre- 
tation '  of  Kant,  the  '  naturalistic  view '  of  Paulus,  the 
'  mythical  hypothesis'  of  Strauss,  the  tendency  theory' 
of  Baur,  and  the  arbitrary  assumptions  of  Schenkel 
and  Kenan.  All  of  these  are  rationalistic,  and  each 
urged  its  claim  to  reception  as  a  satisfactory  solution 
of  the  alleged  monstrosities  of  the  Bible. 

Their  attacks  were  repelled  by  advancing  against 
them  sound  exegetical  principles.  An  important 
result  of  the  contest  was  the  discovery  and  adoption 
of  right  methods  in  interpreting  Scripture.      Every 


DESTRUCTIVE  AND  CONSTRUCTIVE.        33 

word  and  phrase  must  be  carefully  scrutinized,  and 
its  meaning  determined  in  accordance  with  the 
linguistic  use  of  its  own  time  in  the  evolutionary 
development  of  language. 

More  and  more  fully  the  histori co-grammatical 
system  of  exegesis  in  its  application  to  the  Scriptures, 
was  exhibited  and  adopted.  It  held  as  a  primary 
conception,  that  always,  in  endeavoring  to  understand 
the  meaning  of  an  author,  due  regard  must  be  paid  to 
the  unity  and  living  coherence  of  a  progressive 
revelation. 

By  this  matured  and  impregnable  exegetical  science 
the  great  chasm  that  separates  us  from  those  who 
"  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost "  in 
very  ancient  times,  is  bridged  over.  In  imagination 
we  place  ourselves  among  them.  We  learn  to  think 
as  they  thought,  to  speak  as  they  spoke,  to  consider 
everything  in  their  circumstances,  history,  and 
intellectual  or  moral  culture,  that  would  affect  their 
modes  of  thought  and  speech.  It  is  only  when  we 
have  done  this  that  we  can  fairly  understand  them. 

Here  came  in  the  Higher  Criticism,  known  long 
before  by  another  designation.  It  is  imperative  in  Bibli- 
cal Theology  that  everything  embraced  in  the  writings 
that  constitute  its  material  should  be  assigned,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  to  the  right  time  and  place.  Until 
this  is  done  the  exegetical  process,  as  above  described, 
cannot  be  completed. 

The  Higher  Criticism  has  most  to  do  with  the 
human  element  in  the  Bible.  It  considers  questions 
of  age,  authorship,  genuineness,  and  canonical  author- 


34  THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM. 

itj.  It  traces  the  origin,  preservation,  and  integrity 
of  the  various  books,  and  exhibits  their  scope,  con- 
tents, relations,  and  general  character  and  value. 

Thus  by  the  closest  and  most  patient  examination 
of  these  writings,  on  such  scientific  principles  as  are 
commonly  applied  to  very  ancient  books,  each 
several  portion  comes  to  be  duly  appreciated  and 
fitted  into  its  right  place  in  relation  to  other  revela- 
tion. The  more  general  and  older  name  of  this 
science  is  Isagogics,  or  Biblical  Introduction,  It  is 
called  the  Higher  Criticism  to  distinguish  it  from 
Textual  Criticism,  which  only  seeks  to  ascertain  the 
exact  words  of  the  original  Scriptures. 

More  recent  investigations  in  the  Higher  Criticism 
have  excited  the  strongest  prejudice  in  many,  as  if 
new  and  graceless  methods  had  been  introduced  by 
men  in  close  sympathy  with  the  destructive  criticism 
of  the  Bible.  They  regard  it  as  imperilling  every- 
thing holy  and  precious  in  revealed  religion,  and 
fervently  desire  that  it  could  be  banished  into  oblivion. 

They  surely  are  not  aware  how  actively  and  craftily 
the  enemies  of  their  faith  are  using  the  Higher 
Criticism,  and  have  long  been  using  it,  in  undermining 
the  fabric  of  revelation.  The  grandest  efforts  in  this 
same  Higher  Criticism,  followed  by  the  most  import- 
ant results  in  the  establishment  of  correct  principles, 
were  compelled  by  the  spurious  conjectural  criticism 
of  Spinoza,  a  renegade  Jew  and  Pantheist,  who  antic- 
ipated by  nearly  two  centuries  the  teachings  of  the 
later  rationalists,  and  the  untenable  theories  of  Eichard 
Simon,  Clericus,  and  Semler. 


DESTRUCTIVE  AND  CONSTRUCTIVE.        35 

In  reply  to  these  Dii  Pin,  Witsius,  Prideaux, 
Yitringa,  and  Calmet  laid  the  foundations  of  legiti- 
mate historical  inquiry  into  the  origin,  character,  and 
value  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  These  were  followed 
in  the  same  field  by  the  Abbe  Fleury,  Astruc,  Bishop 
Lowth,  and  the  poet  Herder. 

The  products  of  their  labors  in  the  accumulation  of 
facts  and  the  discovery  of  right  principles,  prepared 
the  way  for  the  comprehensive  work  of  J.  G.  Eicli- 
horn  in  1780,  who  has  justly  been  styled  the  father 
of  the  Higher  Criticism.  Under  the  more  general 
name  Biblical  Introduction,  important  contributions 
to  the  science  have  been  made  by  the  English  and 
American  scholars,  T.  H.  Home,  Moses  Stuart,  Ed- 
ward Robinson,  S.  H.  Turner,  Samuel  Davidson, 
and  others. 

In  1862  new  interest  in  the  subject  was  roused  by 
the  attack  of  Bishop  Colenso  on  the  historical  char- 
acter of  the  Old  Testament  writings,  and  by  the 
rationahsm  of  the  authors  of  "  Essays  and  Reviews." 
These  called  forth  able  and  conclusive  replies  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Since  then  the  German  Well- 
hausen  and  the  Hollander  Kuenen,  in  the  spirit  of 
Colenso,  have  compelled  fresh  efforts  to  maintain  the 
credibility  and  authority  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures against  the  assaults  of  rationalism. 

In_  Great  Britain  and  America,  the  constrpfitive 
Higher  Criticism,  iiow  becoming  reconstructive,  seems 
to  be  dividing  itself  between  the  more" progressive, 
represented  by  Bishop  Lightfoot,  Drs.  W.  Robertson 
Smith,  Briggs,  Cheyne,  Driver,  Harper,  Brown,  and 


36  THE  HIGHER  CRITICISM. 

others,  and  those  less  willing  to  accept  advanced 
views,  headed  by  Dr.  "W.  Henry  Green,  with  a  large 
following,  especially  in  his  own  branch  of  Protestant- 
ism. Whatever  may  be  the  further  outcome  of  their 
investigations  and  discussions,  truth  cannot  suffer  at 
their  hands. 

It  is  too  late  to  decry  the  Higher  Criticism,  or  to 
deny  that  it  is  a  field  of  research  on  which  have  been 
won  the  noblest  triumphs  in  behalf  of  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  as  embodying  a  divine 
revelation,  over  the  destructiveness  of  rationalism. 


YI. 
MINOR  INACCURACIES. 

"We  postpone  for  tlie  present  a  further  consideration 
of  the  result  of  tliese  labors  in  a  more  complete  and 
illuminative  Biblical  Theology.  It  will  come  in  its 
place. 

We  have  now  reached  the  most  ungracious  part  of 
our  task — that  of  mentioning  inaccuracies  injthe  Bible    / 
which  make  it  necessary  to  reconstruct  the  theory  of    I 
inspiration  as  generally  accepted. 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  adduce  a  few  out  of  the  j 
multitude jof  instances  in  which  human  infirmity  is 
apparent.     For  the  definition  referred  to  as  unten- 
able, claims  absolute  inerrancy  and  faultless  perfection 
for  the  whole. 

"With  respect  to  inerrancy,  whether  of  the  received 
or  the  original  text,  tjie  Old  Testament  is  far  more  ' 
questionable  than  the  New.     But  even  in  the  New  I 
Testament  inaccuracies  occur^  to  which  the  following  ^ 
description  of    Professor  Green,  and  which  he  vir- 
tually admits,  will  certainly  apply  :    "They  are  in  the 
minhna  of  Scripture,  in  trivialities  that  are  of  no 
account,  and  neither  disparage  the  truthfulness  of  the 
narrative,  nor  in  an}'  way  affect  its  doctrinal  state- 
ments;   and   which   are   compared   by  Dr.   Charles 

(37) 


38  INSPIRATION. 

Hodge  ('  Systematic  Theology,'  vol.  i.,  p.  170)  to 
'  the  specks  of  sandstone  here  and  there  in  the  mar- 
ble of  the  Parthenon.' " 

/ts<3  •^'^^J][2^70f  this  trivial  character   is  the  citation   in  Matt. 

"^iLpL^  xxvii.  9  of  a  passage  from  Zech.  xi.  12,  13,  giving 

|t'\t^  r^  Jeremiah  as  its  author.     A  simple  lapse  of  memory, 

'^'  '^        utterly  unimportant. 

.  ^.  ,      Such,  too,  is  the  discrej)ancy  between  Matt.  xx.  29, 

^'  "^         30,  and  Luke  xviii.  35.     In  the  former  we  have  two 

^/j  .      •  blind  men  crying  after  Jesus  as  I^q  went  out  from 
Jericho,  in  the  latter  of  one  blind  man  as  he  drew 
nigh  to  that  city. 
^-'    .  Similarly  trivial  is  the  difference  between  the  Gos- 

"^  2i-i^'P®^^  about  the  hour  of  the  crucifixion,  and  scarcely 
more  important,  that  between  John  and  the  Synopti- 
cal Gospels  with  regard  to  the  time  of  the  last  Pass- 
over. If  we  can  reconcile  them,  it  is  well ;  but  if 
not,  we  need  not  be  disturbed. 

Even  in  the  discourses  of  our  Lord,  where  as  a  rule 

we  find  far  more  exact  verbal  agreement  than  in  the 

narrative  portion  of  the  Gospels,  there  is  sometimes  a 

difference  in  language,  where  the  forms  of  expression 

,       they  severally  employ  are  not  precisely  equivalent, 

i^^"         ^^^  a^slight  difference  in  thought  is  conveyed. 

■5-^  .Here,    also,    belong     the     linguistic     inaccuracies 

III  sketched  in  the  following  extract  from  the  late  Dr. 
Alexander  McClelland's  "  Manual  of  Interpretation  " 
(pp.  61-63).  One  who  received  from  that  distin- 
guished teacher  more  than  fifty  years  ago  his  instruc- 
tion in  the  rudiments  of  Hebrew,  and  his  earliest 
training  in   Criticism,  Hermeneutics,  and  Exegesis, 


MINOR  INACCURACIES.  39 

may  be  excused  if  he  finds  pleasure  in  giving  the 
quotation  here : 

"Language  is  not  the  invention  of  metaphysicians 
or  convocations  of  the  wise  and  learned.  It  is  the 
cc'Timon  blessing  of  mankind,  formed  for  their  mut- 
ual advantage  in  their  intercourse  with  each  other. 
Its  laws  are  popular,  not  philosophical,  being  founded 
on  the  laws  of  thought  which  govern  the  w^hole  mass 

in  the  community Scarcely  will  we  hear  in  a 

long  and  serious  discourse  between  the  best  speakers 
a  sentence  which  does  not  need  some  modification  or 
hmitation,  in  order  that  we  may  not  attribute  to  it 
more  or  less  than  was  intended.  Nor  is  the  operation 
at  all  difficult.  We  make  the  correction  instantly, . 
with  so  little  cost  of  thought  that  we  would  be 
tempted  to  call  it  instinct,  did  we  not  know  that 
many  of  our  perceptions  that  seem  to  be  intuitive, 
are  the  results  of  habit  and  education.  It  would  be 
an  exceedingly  strange  thing  if  the  Bible,  the  most 
popular  of  all  books,  composed  by  men  for  the  most 
part  taken  from  the  multitude,  addressed  to  all,  and 
on  subjects  interesting  to  all,  were  found  written  in 
language  to  be  interpreted  on  different  principles. 
But  in  point  of  fact  it  is  not.  Its  style  is  eminently 
and  to  a  remarkable  degree  that  which  we  would  expect 
to  find  in  a  volume  designed  by  its  author  to  be  the  peo- 
ple's book — abounding  in  all  those  kinds  of  inaccuracy  f> 
which  are  sprinkled  through  ordinary  discourses,  hyper- 
boles, analogues,  and  loose  catachrestical  expressions, 
whose  meaning  no  one  mistakes,  though  their  deviation 
from  Xhe'plunib  occasionally  makes  the  small  critic  sad."  J ,  *0^ 


40  INSPIEATION. 

These  are  what  Professor  Green  calls  "  the  minima^ 
trivialities,  that  neither  disparage  the  truthfulness  of 
the  narrative,  nor  in  any  way  affect  the  statement  of 
doctrine."  But  who  does  not  see  that  the  admission 
of  error,  however  comparatively  unimportant,  is  fatal 
to  the  hypothesis  of  absolute  inerrancy  ?  They  are 
unconscious  mistakes,  variations  from  the  absolute 
truth,  although  as  is  claimed,  they  are  no  larger  com- 
pared with  the  glorious  substance  of  the  revelation 
than  the  tiniest  grains  of  sand  in  the  marble  of  the 
Parthenon,  as  compared  with  the  whole  massive  pile. 
But  degrees  of  imperfection  are  not  in  question  here. 
The  mistakes  are  such  as  a  human  narrator  might 
\  make  most  innocently.  Bu^ivjua  authorship  in  the 
absolutely  controlling  sense  that  is  asserted,  must  ex- 
clude even  the  least  of  them.  In  the  matter  of  error, 
however  harmless,  the  a  priori  theory  admits  of  no 
maxima  and  minima. 

That  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  inspired 
is  proved  mainly  by  our  Saviour's  endorsement  of 
the  Jewish  Canonical  Books.  He  continually  quotes 
from  them  as  fulfilled  in  himself,  as  worthy  of  all 
confidence,  as  diligently  to  be  searched  for  testimony 
to  his  coming  and  glory.  We  shall  not  examine  the 
sentences  in  which  absolute  endorsement  is  thougEFto 
be  expressed,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  they  bind 
us  to  a  strictly  verbal  inspiration  of  all  the  Scriptures. 
It  is  more  than  doubtfuL 

')i/irt^Ar-C  ^  bal  accuracy  is  practically  treated  as  not  of  the  slight- 


It  only  needs  to  be  said  for  the  present,  that  in  our 
Lord's  frequent  reference  to  the  Old  Testament,  yer- 


MINOR  INACCURACIES.  41 

est  consequence.  He  refers  constantly  to  translations 
in  common  use  among  the  Jews,  never  hinting  that 
their  value  is  impaired  by  erroneous  rendering ;  al- 
though very  often,  and  in  important  places,  they  go 
very  far  astray  from  what  could  be  the  meaning  of 
the  original.  The  Septuagint  version  is  much  nearer 
to  the  Scriptures  endorsed  by  our  Saviour  and  his 
apostles  than  the  received  Hebrew  text ;  for  they  gen- 
erally quote  from  the  former,  and  only  occasionally 
from  the  Hebrew,  or  from  some  Aramaic  version 
which  in  the  Gospels  is  translated  into  Greek. 

It  cannot  properly  be  inferred  from  this  that  the 
Greek  translation  was  better  than  the  Hebrew,  and  is 
to  be  substituted  for  it  as  the  only  inerrant  Scripture.         ^ 
It^simplymeans  that  truth  .-as.inspired  by  God  is  of /^^^?22I^  I* 
such  quality  and  nature  that  invariable  verbal  accu-| 
racy_isnot  material.     It  may  be  expressed  with  great 
freedom  and  in  various  forms  without  impairing  its         / 
substantial  value.     It  is  the  thought  that  is  inspired.     /*^  /  - 

In  turning  to  the  Old  Testanient  we  are  confronted 
by  the  fact  that  those  who  have  most  dih'gently  en- 
gaged in  the  research  that  is  needed  to  decide  the  >  .i-'U  tN/^ 
question  of  inerrancy,  the  recognized  speciahsts  and  'y-/^^*^wl-y 
adepts,  the  class  of  scholars  properly  looked  to  as  au-  )C^  iJ*^' 
thorities   in    historic   and    literary   criticism, — whose ^^'^''^^ 
competency,   integrity,    and   absolute    confidence    in  '■w^^'  ^ 
Old   Testament   revelation  are  unquestionable,  —  re-  ^    r~^     ' 
gard  the  insistance  upon   inerrancy  in   the  inspired  ^^         v^ 
Scriptures  as  false  in  principle  and  in  fact.     Apply-  )f^^ 
ing  the  scientific  tests  to  these  writings  that  are  ap-  ^-^^ 

plied  to  other  ancient  literature,  they  find  many  inac-    -^  ^ 


42  INSPIRATION. 

curacies  and  conflicting  statements.  Questions  arise 
in  these  investigations  on  which  individual  opinions 
are  of  little  worth,  even  of  men  eminent  in  intellect, 
learning,  and  love  of  truth,  unless  they  are  approved 
workmen  in  the  line  of  study  which  entitles  them  to 
a  hearing  on  matters  of  the  kind.  The  dogmatist,  the 
metaphysician,  the  etymologist,  the  rhetorician  may 
each  be  treated  with  great  deference  in  all  that  relates 
to  his  own  special  science.  But  as  an  authority  for 
final  decision  in  a  case  of  great  difficulty  and  import- 
ance, he  must  be  kept  within  his  own  limits. 

Let  the  circumstance  be  recalled  from  our  prelimi- 
nary statements,  in  view  of  which  we  are  most  anx- 
ious in  maintaining  the  divine  origin  and  authority  of 
the  Scriptures.  It  is  that  we  are  surrounded  by  an 
incomputable  mass  of  unbelief  of  every  shade  and  de- 
gree. In  part,  it  is  bold,  defiant,  even  malignant, 
ready  to  see  every  weak  point,  and  to  use  unscrupu- 
lously every  advantage  in  confirming  latent  sceptical 
tendencies,  and  in  gaining  over  those  whose  early  faith 
in  the  Christian  religion  is  becoming  unsettled  by 
philosophic,  materialistic,  or  agnostic  unbelief. 

If  it  comes  to  be  understood  that  it  is  the  authori- 
tative doctrine  of  the  Church  that  the  inspiration  of 
the  Scriptures  depends  upon  the  absolute  immaculate- 
ness  of  the  whole  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  large 
proportion  of  those  whose  special  scholarship  qualifies 
them  to  speak  decisively  upon  the  subject  admit  that 
the  Scriptures  are  not  without  error,  and  that  they 
stand  ready  to  prove  it  by  many  instances,  we  fear 
beyond  measure  the  result. 


MINOR  INACCURACIES.  43 

In  fact  the  claim  of  Scripture  infallibility  in  all  his- 
toric and  scientific  details,  where  errors  are  visible  to 
every  eye,  is  making  infidels  by  thousands. 

Very  clear  and  decisive  upon  this  point  is  the  lan- 
guage of  the  late  Professor  Evans :  "  You  protest  against 
the  unsettling  of  faith.  You  do  well.  But  they  also 
do  well  who  protest  against  keeping  up  needless  bar- 
riers to  faith.  You  condemn  criticism  which  destroys 
belief  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  word  of  God.  But  be- 
ware of  including  in  your  condemnation  the  criticism 
which  helps  to  make  such  belief  in  the  Scriptures  pos- 
sible. You  may  be  sure  that  so  long  as  you  hang  the 
infallible  authority  of  Scripture  as  the  rule  of  faith  on 
the  infallible  accuracy  of  every  particular  word  and 
clause  in  the  Book,  as  long  as  you  exalt  the  Bible  to  ^  \  Cqj^ 
the  same  pinnacle  of  authority  in  matters  respecting  i%(yj^ 
which  God  has  given  us  fuller  and  more  exact  revela- '  '^^rS 
tions  elsewhere,  as  in  matters  respectino*  which  the 
Bible  is  the  only  revelation,  the  irrepressible  conflict  ^ 

between  faith  and  science  will  go  on,  and  the  Drapers  /^^-^^g^ 
and  Whites  of  each  generation  will  have  their  new  ^-  ^ct^» 
chapters  to  add  to  the  record.  Every  new  discovery  A^5t>j'^i^ 
in  science  or  in  archaeology  that  seems  to  contradict  h^Uk^  t. 
some  particular  statement  will  produce  a  panic.  •*^^  ^^^^ 
Every  advance  in  criticism  will  tend  to  unsettle  the  Ao»-i^^ 
faith  of  somebody  whom  your  teaching  has  led  to  ^^*^^*^ 
confound  the  form  with  the  substance.  ^^^o-u^ 


"  This  is  a  mistaken  defence  of  Divine  Revelation. 


^  A^ 


eu^ 


Shipwrecks  of  faith  without  number  have  been  caused>^^ 
by  it.     It  is  the  very  thing  according  to  his  own  con-  ^a  '  *^ 
fessions  that  made  an  unbeliever  of  the  most  brilliant  /    ,  *^^*^ 


44  INSPIRATION. 

scholar  of  France,  perhaps  of  the  world  to-day,  Ernest 
Eenan.    It  is  the  very  thing  that  drove  into  infidelity 
the  strongest  champion  of  the  popular  infidelity  of 
England,  who  died   the  other  day  in  his  unbelief, 
Charles  Bradlaugh.     So  testifies  his  own  brother,  a 
believer.     But  for  this  the  iridescent  declamation  of 
Eobert  Ingersoll  in  his  'Mistakes  of  Moses,'  would 
r  collapse  like  a  pricked  balloon.     The  Christianity  of 
i  our  day  cannot  afford  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  Book 
!  on  that  line.     It  cannot  ailord  to  silence  the  larger, 
profounder,  more  Scriptural  restatements  of  revealed 
truth  made  imperative  by  improved  methods  of  Bibli- 
cal research." 


YII. 

MINOR  INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL. 

Two  instances  of  variations  from  fact  in  the 
Old  Testament  have  been  recently  adduced  by  an 
accomplished  Assyriologist.*  The  iirst  is  chronolog- 
ical. It  is  one  out  of  many  such  embarrassments  that 
occur  in  the  Books  of  Kings. 

It  is  in  2  Kings  xxviii.  9,  10,  where  the  chronolog-  CfJP^*  ]* 
ical  statement  implies  that  Ilezekiah  began  to  reign  u^JaA-*  \^ 
727  B.C. ;  for  we  know  from  Assyrian  records  that  v'  v-^»  ^ 
Samaria  was  taken  in  722  b.c.  tn*^J-y6 

The  diflSculty  lies  in  adjusting  this  record  to  the  "jC^vv 
statement  in  verse  13  :  "  Now  in  the  fourteenth  year  ^     pj"  * 
of  Ilezekiah  did  Sennacherib,  king  of  Assyria,  come  V^   ^^ 
up  against  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them."  sJ^-h"^! 
There  is  scarcely  any  Assyrian  campaign  about  which 
we  are  better  informed  from  Assyrian  sources  than 
this  campaign  of  Sennacherib.     He   made  but  one, 
and  that  took  place  701  b.c.     We   are  thus  faced 
by  a  dilemma.      Either  701  b.c.  was  the  fourteenth 
year  of  Hezekiah,  in  which  case  he  could  not  have 
commenced  to  reign  in  727,  or  else  he  began  to  reign 


*  Professor  Francis  Brown,  D.D. 

(45) 


46  INSPIRATION. 

727  B.C.,  in  which  case  701  was  not  his  fourteenth 
year. 

Of  this  the  writer  says :  "  Scholars  differ  as  to  the 

choice  they  make  under  these  circumstances 

Attempts  to  sliake  the  date  of  Sennacherib's  cam- 
paign have  failed.  As  far  as  the  material  at  our 
command  permits  us  to  go,  the  error  was  in  the 
original  document, — ^.  ^.,  is  due  to  the  responsible 
compiler  of  the  Book  of  Kings,  who  wrote  after 
the  i^orthern  Kingdom  had  for  a  hundred  years 
or  more  ceased  to  exist,  its  people  been  deported 
or  scattered,  its  records  doubtless  in  large  measure 
destroyed,  and  its  territory  largely  given  over  to 
idolatry  and  semi-barbarism.  I  shall  be  grateful  to 
any  scholar  who  will  give  me  light  on  this,  as  on  other 
difficult  questions  of  Biblical  Chronology. 

"  But  I  refuse  to  shut  my  eyes  to  the  fact  of  an  ap- 
parent error,  and  I  decline  as  a  Christian  man  to  con- 
nect my  faith  in  my  Redeemer,  and  in  the  revelation 
of  God's  love  in  him,  in  any  way,  shape,  or  manner 
with  the  dates  of  ancient  Hebrew  kings." 

The  second  example  given  by  the  same  writer  is  in 
the  Book  of  Daniel.  It  relates  to  the  statements  in 
chap,  v.,  with  regard  to  affairs  in  Babylon  after  the 
reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  He  refers  to  various 
matters  of  complexity  and  difficulty.  "  But  the 
difficulty  reaches  a  climax  in  the  mention  of  Darius 
the  Mede  (v.  31),  who  appears  in  the  narrative  to 
have  been  the  immediate  successor  of  Belshazzar,  to 
have  organized  the  empire  (chap,  vi.),  to  have  been 
*  the  son  of  Ahasuerus,  of  the  seed  of  the  Medes ' 


MINOR  INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL.      47 

(ix.  1),  and  to  have  himself  been  succeeded  by  Cyrus 
the  Persian  (vi.  28).  For  this  personage,  cuneiform 
decipherment  appears  to  have  left  no  room.  Per- 
fectly explicit  contemporary  records  do  not  permit  a 
student  of  history  any  longer  to  doubt  that  Media  fell 
before  Babylon  did;  that  the  conqueror  of  Babylon  wa3 
not  a  Mede,  but  a  Persian  ;  that  this  conqueror  was 
Cyrus,  as  the  Old  Testament  elsewhere  represents 
(e.g.^  Isa  xliv.  28,  xiv.  1  ff.,  cf.  xlvi.  1;  2  Chron. 
xxxvi.  22,  23=Ezr.  i.  1-8) ;  that  his  reign  over 
Babylon  was  reckoned  as  beginning  immediately  upon 
the  conquest,  and  that  therefore  no  reign  intervened 
between  that  of  Kabonidus,  the  last  Shemitic  king, 
and  his  own ;  that  the  only  royal  Darius  known  to 
history  in  that  century,  was  not  a  Mede,  but  a  Persian, 
not  the  son  of  Ahasuerus  (Xerxes),  but  his  father,  not 
the  predecessor  of  Cyrus,  but  a  successor  of  his,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  Ezra  iv.  5  :  'All  the  days 
of  Cyrus,  King  of  Persia,  even  until  the  reign  of 
Darius,  King  of  Persia';  in  short,  that  as  little  as 
there  is  any  place  for  Darius  the  Mede  before  Cyrus, 
just  as  little  is  there  any  extra-Biblical  evidence  that 
there  was  a  Darius  the  Mede  to  take  such  a  place ; 
while  there  is  strong  evidence,  such  as  historical 
students  are  bound  to  accept,  and  do  accept,  that  there 
was  not.  The  judgment  expressed  in  the  only  com- 
mentary on  the  Book  of  Daniel,  written  in  recent 
years  by  a  scholar  of  com])etent  equipment  for  the 
task — I  refer  to  that  of  Meinhold,  in  the  series  of 
Strack  and  Zockler — is  in  accordance  with  the  weight 
of  evidence :  '  No  Median  sovereignty  over  Babylonia 


48  INSPIRATION. 

preceded  the  Persian,  and  Darius  the  Mede  is  not  a 
historical  figure.' 

*'I  know  that  there  is  a  great  sensitiveness  in  some 
rehgious  minds  in  regard  to  the  Book  of  Daniel.  I 
am  sorrj  to  disturb  such  minds.  But  it  is  indispensa- 
ble that  it  should  clearly  be  shown  whither  the  ex- 
treme dogma  that  is  claiming  to  be  the  sole  orthodoxy 
is  driving  us.  I  am  quite  ready  to  grant  that  there 
are  elements  in  the  history  of  the  third  quarter  of  the 
sixth  century  e.g.,  which  are  not  yet  understood, 
and  which  may  by  some  better  understanding  of  them 
hereafter,  enable  us  to  see  more  distinctly  the  relations 
of  various  Bible  statements :  but  from  the  point  of 
view  of  historical  scholarship,  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  Darius  the  Mede  will  thereby  be 
rehabilitated  as  an  actual  personage,  any  more  than 
there  is  to  expect  the  rehabihtation  of  the  Sar- 
danapalus  and  Semiramis  of  Greek  legend.  Even  if 
that  should  occur,  however,  it  remains  true  that  no 
one  who  fairly  weighs  the  facts  as  they  at  present 
appear,  can  say  that  they  are  favorable  to  the  tradi- 
tional opinion,  and  no  one  who  loves  the  Bible  can 
reflect  without  a  shudder  on  the  temerity  of  those  who 
condition  the  fact  and  authority  of  divine  revelation 
upon  the  slender  possibility  that  the  prevailing  testi- 
mony of  the  credible  witnesses  to  the  facts  may  at 
some  remote  date  be  overthrown." 

The  above  extracts  are  given  because  they  are  the 
latest  instances  of  error  in  Biblical  history  that  have 
been  prominently  mentioned,  and  are  connected  with 
the  writer's  very  extensive  examination  of  cuneiform 


MINOR  INACCURACIES-HISTORICAL.       49 

tablets.  Yarious  explanations  have  been  attempted 
of  these,  as  of  other  apparent  inaccuracies  equally 
formidable,  which,  however,  dispassionate  and  ac- 
complished scholarship  pronounces  strained  and 
improbable.  Some  of  these  are  of  such  a  nature  that 
it  is  scarcely  supposable  that  they  should  have  resulted 
from  the  carelessness  of  a  copyist,  or  that  any  one 
could  have  an  object  in  altering  the  text  intentionally. 

It  may  be  said  that  accidental  or  intentional  altera- 
tion is  in  no  case  absolutely  impossible.  But  as  cases  -f 
of  extreme  improbability  multiply,  the  possibility  that 
not  one  of  the  apparent  errors  were  in  the  original 
text,  becomes  infinitesimal.  Who  must  not  regard 
with  profound  pity  the  anxious  inquirer  after  saving 
truth,  in  its  bearing  upon  his  prospects  for  the  life  to 
come,  who  is  informed  that  the  truth  of  the  Gospel 
as  a  revelation  of  divine  mercy  must  be  abandoned  if 
the  Old  Testament  or  the  New  contains  a  single  his- 
toric inaccuracy,  however  unimportant? 

The  recent  discussions  upon  this  subject  in  a  branch 
of  the  American  Church  that  embraces  a  larger  num- 
ber of  devoted  specialists  in  the  Higher  Criticism 
than  any  other,  have  raised  an  issue  that  can  no  longer 
be  evaded.  AVhatever  may  be  the  ultimate  action  of 
that  conservative  body,  the  distinguished  representa- 
tive of  conservatism  who  stands  foremost,  as  entitled 
by  his  chosen  line  of  study  to  speak  as  a  specialist, 
stands  nearly  alone. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  what  harm  may  result 
unless  the  whole  subject  be  considered  afresh,  and 
some  ground  intelligibly  stated  upon  which  the  in- 


50  INSPIRATION. 

spiration  of  the  Bible  can  be  firmlj  and  consistently 
maintained,  without  regard  to  occasional  lapses  of 
memory  or  defective  information,  which  do  not  in 
the  least  affect  the  substance  and  gracious  purpose  of 
the  revelation.  We  may  well  echo  the  exclamation 
of  the  writer  last  quoted  against  the  temerity  of  sus- 
pending our  faith  in  the  Kedeemer,  and  our  eternal 
hope,  upon  the  minute  historical  accuracy  of  every 
incident  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  or  the 
Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  Judah. 

We  here  quote  with  satisfaction  the  language  of  an 
anonymous  writer  describing  a  common  misapprehen- 
sion concerning  the  Higher  Criticism  in  its  purpose 
and  results :  '^  Many  earnest  and  uncompromising 
Christians  cannot  see  anything  good  in  criticism. 
They  arraign  it  as  a  foe  to  Christianity,  and  a  would- 
be  destroyer  of  the  Bible.  This  is  not  at  all  strange ; 
for  the  average  man,  untrained  in  historic  criticism, 
cannot  appreciate  the  nice  discriminations  of  the 
critic.  He  wants  a  plain  categorical  statement,  a 
simple  alternative,  with  no  possible  middle  ground, 
and  no  question  left  in  suspense.  He  does  not  recog- 
nize the  force  of  probable  evidence,  which  in  all 
departments  of  thought  is  the  very  guide  of  life. 
And  least  of  all  can  he  understand  how  a  man  can 
give  up  some  views  of  the  Bible  without  giving  up 
the  Bible  itself.  It  is  all  or  nothing  with  him.  If 
he  believes  in  the  Bible  at  all,  he  believes  in  it  as  an 
infallible  oracle,  free  from  all  errors  and  misstate- 
ments. And  when  criticism,  which  in  its  first  touch 
is  always  destructive,  like   the  frost,  rejects  a  text 


MINOR  INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL.      51 

here,  gives  a  new  meaning  to  a  passage  there,  and 
throws  over  the  whole  vohime  a  novel  and  strange 
atmosphere  of  naturalness,  he  cries  out  in  wrath  that 
the  critics  are  trying  to  destroy  the  Bible. 

"  Such  fear  of  criticism,  however,  does  not  belong  to 
Christianity  itself,  but  to  its  over-cautious  defenders. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  result  thus  far  of  Biblical 
Criticism  has  been  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  claims 
of  the  Bible  to  the  regard  of  men.     In  innumerable 
ways  the  researches  of  the  critics  are  confirming  the 
veracity  of  the  Bible,  and  investigation  has  left  it  in 
a  much  stronger,  because  more  rational,  position  than 
it  occupied  before.     Even  the  discrepancies  and  con- 
tradictions that  criticism  has  discovered  in  it  have   / 
confirmed  its  honesty  and  veracity,  strange  as  it  may     .^  y    iT 
appear.     For  they  are   just   such  discrepancies  and  ',    - — ^ 
contradictions  as  would  be  made  by  honest  and  truth-  \f  ,      **^^' 
seeking  men  in  the  circumstances  under  which  they   •    -.   .. 
wrote.     For  instance,  there  are  two  accounts  given '^ 
of  the  origin  of  the  name  Beer-sheba.     In  the  twenty- 
first  chapter  of  Genesis,  we  are  told  that  it  was  so 
named  by  Abraham  because  of  a  striking  event  that 
happened  there.     And  in  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of 
the  same  book  it  is  said  that  Isaac  gave  the  place  its 
name  about  ninety  years  later  for  a  wholly  different 
reason.      Of   course  the  harmonizers   have  tried    to 
smooth  over  this  difficulty,  but  with  no  success.     The 
true  explanation  of  this  and  many  other  contradicti(ms  • 
of  a  similar  character  is  that  the  Biblical  writers  and 
editors  incorporated  into  their  narrative  accounts  from 
different  documents,  and  did   not  always  notice  the 


52  INSPIRATION. 

diflFerence  between  these  documents.  This  does  not 
impeacli  the  Bible  as  a  record  of  God's  deahngs  with 
men ;  but  it  does  overthrow  the  theory  that  every 
word  in  it  is  infallibly  inspired. 

"  The  real  enemy  of  the  Bible  is  not  the  man  who 
would  test  its  claims  by  rules  of  legitimate  and  candid 
criticism,  but  the  man  who,  by  refusing  to  allow  such 
tests,  gives  color  to  the  belief  that  he  fears  the  result. 
Christians  of  serene  faith,  who  have  caught  the  finer 
spirit  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  welcome  all  investi- 
gations and  all  tests,  however  disturbing  may  be  their 
temporary  effect." 

Since  the  foregoing  chapters  were  written  we  have 
examined  with  great  interest  an  article  by  Professor 
"VY.  Henry  Green  upon  a  difficult  question  of  Old 
Testament  Chronology.* 

It  is  a  comment  upon  the  genealogies  in  Gen. 
V.  and  xi.  The  former  of  these  records  gives  the  line 
of  descent  from  Adam  to  Shem,  the  latter  thence- 
forward to  Abraham.  The  Professor  proposes  to 
remove  the  conflict  between  the  Biblical  chronology 
and  the  conclusions  of  science  with  respect  to  the  age 
of  the  world.  That  the  scientific  claim  is  imperative 
is  sufficiently  evident  from  the  willingness  to  concede 
it  manifested  by  so  conservative  a  scholar. 

We  quote  several  leading  sentences  :  "  As  mention 
is  made  of  the  age  of  each  patriarch  of  the  entire 
series  at  the  birth  of  his  son,  it  has  been  assumed  that 
this  supplies  a  basis  for  computing  the  length  of  time 


*  n 


Bibliotheca  Sacra,"  April,  1890. 


MINOR  INACCURACIES -HISTORICAL.      53 

covered  by  tbese  genealogies,  and  that  it  would  be 
only  necessary  to  add  together  the  numbers  thus  given 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  interval  from  Creation  to  the 
Flood,  and  from  the  Flood  to  the  birth  of  Abraham. 
Estimates  thus  made  out  have  been  commonly 
accepted  as  the  Biblical  chronology  of  this  primeval 
period,  and  the  age  of  the  world  thus  determined  has 
been  set  over  against  the  results  of  scientific  investi- 
gation." 

"  I  deny  most  emphatically,"  the  writer  goes  on  to 
say,  "  the  antagonism,  and  the  legitimacy  of  the  as- 
sumption on  which  it  rests.  The  author  of  these 
genealogies  gives  no  intimation  that  they  were  con- 
structed for  any  such  purpose.  He  never  puts  them  to 
this  use  himself.  He  nowhere  sums  these  numbers, 
nor  suggests  their  summation.  No  chronological 
statement  is  deduced  from  them,  either  by  him  or  by 
any  inspired  writer.  There  is  no  computation  any- 
where in  Scripture  of  the  time  that  elapsed  from  the 
creation  or  from  the  deluge,  as  there  is  from  the 
descent  into  Egypt  to  the  Exodus  (Ex.  xii.  40),  or 
from  the  Exodus  to  the  building  of  the  temple 
(1  Kings  vi.  1).  And  if  the  numbers  in  these 
genealogies  are  for  the  sake  of  constructing  a 
chronology,  why  are  numbers  introduced  which  have 
no  possible  relation  to  such  a  purpose  ?  Why  are  we 
told  how  long  each  patriarch  lived  after  the  birth 
of  his  son,  and  what  was  the  entire  length  of  his  'ife  ? " 

The  Professor  makes  room  for  the  indefinite  exten- 
sion of  time  within  the  limits  mentioned  in  the  record, 
by  suggesting  that  the  Hebrew  word  ^' id'^«^ "  may 


54  INSPIRATION. 

be  used  with  equal  propriety  of  an  immediate  or  a 
remote  descendant ;  and  he  cites  several  instances  in 
which  genealogies  are  constructed  with  the  omission 
of  some  names,  yet  with  no  change  in  the  word  that 
expresses  the  connection.  This  usage  is  unquestiona- 
ble. A  notable  instance  is  our  Saviour's  genealogy 
in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew. 

But  the  proof  from  analogy  unquestionably  fails  in 
there  being  no  single  genealogy  on  record  which 
binds  us  fast  at  each  successive  step  to  an  immediate 
descendant  by  mentioning  the  age  of  the  father  at  the 
birth  of  the  son.  This  mathematical  precision  forbids 
the  supposition  that  in  any  instance  the  name  given 
is  not  that  of  the  progenitor's  personal  offspring,  the 
nearest  in  descent, — that  is,  if  historical  accuracy  is  of 
the  slightest  importance. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  Professor  must  further 
r  assume  that  the  genealogist  has  intentionally  concealed 

his  omission  of  one  or  more  links  in  the  chain,  by 
substituting  the  name  of  the  later  descendant  whom 
he  chooses  next  to  introduce,  for  that  of  the  son 
actually  born  within  the  given  limit  of  time.  This 
involves  a  serious  departure  from  historic  fact. 

Suppose,  for  illustration,  that  two  more  generations 
had  been  dropped  from  chapter  xi. — those  next  after 
Arphaxad ;  omitting  Shelah  and  Eber,  and  passing 
over  to  Peleg.  If  the  text  is  altered  to  correspond 
in  apparent  exactness  with  the  remainder  of  the  chain, 
we  must  read  by  compression  in  verses  12-16  :  "  And 
Arphaxad  lived  five  and  thirty  years  and  begat  Peleg. 
And  Arphaxad  lived  after  he  begat  Peleg  four  hun- 


MINOR  INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL.      55 

dred  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daugh- 
ters." 

Now  Peleg  was  at  the  nearest  Arphaxad's  great- 
grandson.  If  the  genealogist  has  ah-eady  omitted 
other  generations  at  this  point,  the  relationship  must 
have  been  still  more  remote.  But  supposing  the 
omission  of  only  the  two  above  mentioned  names, 
Arphaxad  muse  have  been  stated  to  be  thii*ty-five 
years  old  at  the  birth  of  his  great-grandson,  and  to 
have  lived  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  there- 
after. 

We  thus  exemplify  that  according  to  the  proposed 
theory  the  genealogy  must  contain  at  every  omission 
of  an  immediate  lineal  descendant  ajpalpable  misstate- 
ment in  respect  to  names,  or  figures,  or  both  ;  and  this 
by  Moses,  who  is  expressly  mentioned  in  the  article  as 
undoubtedly  the  author.  It  involves  the  supposition 
that  every  error  in  figures  has  been  adroitly  covered 
up  by  a  change  in  names,  only  to  be  discovered  at 
this  late  period. 

The  esteemed  writer  was  greatly  perplexed,  as 
many  others  have  been  before  him,  by  the  discrep- 
ancy between  this  genealogical  record,  in  the  only 
significance  that  has  ever  before  been  thought  of  as 
possible,  and  the  fact  ascertained  by  scientific  re- 
search. But  his  ingenious  proposition  is  an  attempt 
to  wrest  asunder  an  iron  chain,  every  link  of  which 
is  thoroughly  tempered  and  forged.  It  shows  what 
bold  expedients  the  Higher  Criticism,  if  not  too 
scrupulous,  may  resort  to  in  dealing  with  the  prob- 
lems of  the  Bible.     It  is  all  in  vain.     The  Hebrew 


m  INSPIRATION. 

terms  that  express  relationship  bj  descent  are  elastic. 
But  there  is  no  elasticity  in  mathematics. 

The  genealogical  inaccuracy  in  Genesis  remains. 
This  brave  effort  only  accentuates  it,  and  we  cannot 
hope  that  others  will  be  more  successful. 

Tlie  same  respected  authority  concedes  a  historic 
inaccuracy  in  Gal.  iii.  17.  It  is  in  connection  withr 
Bishop  Colenso's  assertion  of  the  impossibility  of  so 
large  an  Israelitish  population  as  that  given  in  Ex. 
xii.  40  having  descended  from  the  seventy  souls  who 
went  down  into  Egypt  237  years  before.  This  state- 
ment of  time  is  based  on  the  Septuagint  rendering 
of  Ex.  xii.  40,  which  the  negative  critics  assume  to 
be  correct.  Professor  Green  says  of  it :  ^'  The  gloss 
thus  put  upon  this  passage  in  Exodus,  as  it  seemed  to 
have  the  authority  of  an  inspired  apostle  in  its  favor 
in  Gal.  iii.  17,  and  as  the  genealogy  of  Moses,  Ex.  vi. 
16-20,  appeared  to  preclude  the  supposition  that  430 
years  were  spent  in  Egypt,  became  the  well-nigh  uni- 
versal view  of  the  case.  It  still  has  its  advocates, 
though  the  leading  Biblical  scholars  of  Europe  have 
abandoned  itP 

On  the  passage  in  Galatians,  Dr.  Green  says: 
"^"This  language  of  the  apostle,  however,  does  not 
appear  to  us  to  be  decisive  of  the  point  at  issue. 
The  interval  of  time  is  only  incidentally  mentioned. 
Precision  of  statement  regarding  it  was  of  no  conse- 
quence to  his  argument^  His  opinion  upon  the 
chronology  itself  is  very  emphatic:  "  The  evidence  is, 
we  think,  conclusive  that  the  abode  iii  Egypt  lasted 
430  years.     This  is  the  natural  sense  of  Ex.  xii.  40, 


MINOR  INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL.      57 

and  none  would  ever  think  of  extracting  a  different 
meaning  from  it,  but  for  reasons  outside  of  the  verse 
itself." 

This  nobly  ilhistrates  a  recent  deliverance  from  the 
same  pen  upon  the  untrammeled  freedom  that  should 
be  accorded  to  the  Higher  Criticism  in  discharging 
its  appropriate  functions.  Even  an  inspired  apostle 
niaj^be  historically  inaccurate,  when  his  statement  is 
merely^  incidental,  and  precision  is  of  no  consequence 
to  his_argument.  One  would  suppose  that  the  same 
pnnciple  might  apply  to  the  incidental  mention  by  our 
Saviour,  in  quoting  from  the  Old  Testament,  of  the 
name  of  any  author  with  whose  writings  the  passage 
adduced  was  connected  by  Jewish  tradition  and  in 
common  thought.  In  every  such  instance  his  purpose 
was  to  identif  V  it  to  his  hearers  as  of  recognized  divine 
authority.  The  human  authorship  was  secondary  and 
insignificant,  not  in  the  least  affecting  the  purport 
and  power  of  the  words  that  are  cited,  whether  legal 
or  prophetic. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  author's  distinguished 
scholarship  would  not  permit  him,  in  either  of  the 
above  examples  of  historical  inaccuracy,  to  refer  to 
a  difference  in  the  autograph  manuscript,  as  even 
possible.  Any  want  of  precision  in  the  genealogies 
was  evidently  wrought  into  their  original  substance. 
In  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  a  change  in  the  original 
reading  by  a  copyist  or  corrector  is  precluded  by  the  >^ 
manifest  fact  that  St.  Paul,  according  to  his  estab-  f 
liflhed  custom,  followed  the  Septuagint. 


YIII. 

MOEAL  I^'CONGEUITIES. 

The  scope  of  the  recent  discussions  centering  upon 
the  alleged  inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures  was  not 
broad  enough  to  include  all  that  properly  belongs  to 
the  subject.  For  this  reason  it  was  impossible  that 
by  any  protraction  it  should  reach  a  thoroughly 
satisfactory  conclusion. 

The  only  errancy  asserted  or  denied  related  to 
empirical  matters, — history,  science,  and  the  like, — 
for  which  men  ordinarily  depend  upon  their  own 
observation  and  the  testimony  of  others.  It  seemed 
strange  that  no  one  should  think  of  m,oral  errancy  in 
.  the  Bible,  as  existent,  or  even  possible!  Yet  it  has 
/  long  been  recognized  by  Christian  thought,  that  there 
is  a  contrast  between  the  spirit  and  teachings  of  our 
Saviour,  and  those  of  the  earlier  revelation. 

The   connection    between   minor    inaccuracies    iti 
historical'and  scientific  statement,  and  imperfect  con- 
ceptions  of  right   and  wrong,  as  estimated  by   the 
liighest  standard,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  discerned. 
I  They  differ  in  their  nature  and  kind,  yet  nothing  can 
j  be  surer  than  that  they  are  similar  in  origin,  and  in 
I  the  principle  upon  which  their  presence  in  an  in- 
spired book  must  be  explained. 
(58) 


MORAL  INCONGRUiriES.  59 

They  alike  indicate  that  the  independent  activity  of 
a  human  agent  in  the  revelation  was  not  so  absolutely 
under  the  repression  and  control  of  the  inspiring 
Spirit  as  we,  in  our  imperfect  wisdom,  are  apt  to 
think  essential  to  the  surest  guidance.  We  must  con- 
clude that  the  failure  of  the  divine  energy  utterly  to 
suppress  the  hiunan^  iiwi^i  have  had  an  all-sufficient 
reason  in  the  import  and  purpose  of  the  revelation, 
and  this  reason  it  may  not  be  very  difficult  to  find. 

The  combination  that  we  suggest  here  is  important. 
For  any  considerations  that  will  account  for  the 
greater  and  unquestionable  errancy,  will  fully  account 
for  the  less. 

Let  us  then  face  fairly  these  imperfections  in  the 
ethical  ^here.  Objections  to  the  moral  lessons  of 
the  Old  Testament,  sometimes  as  presenting  repulsive 
conceptions  of  God,  in  what  he  seemed  to  approve  or 
disapprove  in  the  government  and  conduct  of  human 
life,  are  actively  employed,  even  more  than  errors  in 
science  and  history,  as  effective  weapons  in  the  most 
virulent  assaults  upon  revealed  religion. 

They  are  perplexing  to  many  who  in  spite  of  them 
believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  their  heart. 
There  are  not  a  few  who  accept  the  Old  Testament  as 
containing  a  divine  revelation,  who  are  not  able  to  ac- 
count for  serious  moral  blemishes  in  a  book  like  this, 
and  reject  many  of  its  statements,  considering  them  ab- 
solutely incredil)le  under  the  rule  of  the  God  of  truth 
and  grace.  Who  will  not  say  that  this  option  is  bet- 
ter than  the  rejection  of  the  whole  ? 

Such  difficulties,  pertaining  to  the  substance  of  re- 


60  MORAL  INCONGRUITIES. 

ligious  belief, — the  very  centre  and  heart  of  revelation, 
— are  harder  to  deal  with  than  those  that  relate  to  its 
shell  and  husk.  The  inspired  books  are  more  vulner- 
able here  than  at  all  other  points.  The  boldest  scoffer 
of  our  times  in  flaunting  "  The  Mistakes  of  Moses  " 
has  declared  that  there  are  laws  in  the  Mosaic  code 
that  would  disgrace  any  modern  statute-book,  and  his 
assertion  cannot  reasonably  be  disputed.  He  refers 
for  example  to  punishments  that  our  later  civilization 
would  cry  out  against  as  bloody,  cruel,  and  shocking 
beyond  conception.  One  example  adduced  is  the 
stoning  to  death  of  those  who  perform  labor  on  the 
Sabbath, — even  of  a  boy  gathering  sticks  for  a  fire  (Ex. 
xxxi.  14,  15 ;  Num.  xv.  32-36) ;  another,  the  fearful 
sentence  to  be  executed  upon  any  one  who  should  en- 
tice another  to  idolatry  :  "  If  thy  brother,  the  son  of 
thy  mother,  or  thy  daughter,  or  the  wife  of  thy  bosom, 
or  thy  friend  who  is  as  thine  own  soul,  shall  entice 
thee  secretly,  saying,  '  Let  us  go  and  serve  other  gods,' 
etc.,  ....  thou  shalt  surely  kill  him,  thy  hand  shall 
be  first  upon  him  to  put  him  to  death,  and  afterward 
the  ha  ad  of  the  people ;  thou  shalt  stone  him  with 
stones  till  he  die  "  (Deut.  xiii.  6-10). 
^  Passing  over  from  legal  enactments  we  find  simi- 
^^^ /lar  use  made  in  the  interests  of  infidelity  of  the  utter 
extermination  by  divine  command  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Canaanitish  cities  by  the  Israelites  under  Joshua, 
involving  the  utter  destruction  of  helpless  infancy. 
For  we  read  again  and  again  with  reference  to  indi- 
vidual cities :  "  He  destroyed  them,  neither  left  he 
any  therein  to  breathe,"  thus  educating  to  the  highest 


Mj^  ^ 


MORAL  INCONGRUITIES.  61 

intensity  every  fierce  and  savage  impulse  of  whicli 
barbarians  are  capable  (Josh,  x.,  xi.,  xii.). 

In  this  con nectiou  the  black  treachery  of  Jael  comes  /jx^^isj^. 
to  mind,  violating  the  sacred  laws  of  hospitahty ;  un-  C/vwwAJ! 
der  promise  of  protection  and  safety,  alluring  the  dis- 
comfited Sisera  to  her  tent,  and  in  order  to  dissipate 
all  apprehension,  bringing  him  generous  refreshment, 
and  then  foully  murdering  him  in  his  sleep.  This  is 
the  act  that  is  presently  celebrated  by  Deborah  the 
prophetess,  even  emphasizing  as  praiseworthy  the  ly- 
ing arts  by  which  she  accomplished  her  purposes : 

'*  He  asked  water,  and  she  gave  him  milk; 
She  brought  forth  butter  in  a  lordly  dish. 
She  put  her  hand  to  the  nail. 

And  her  right  hand  to  the  workman's  hammer; 
And  with  the  hammer  she  smote  Sisera, 

She  smote  off  his  head,  when  she  had  pierced  and 
stricken  through  his  temples." 

Of  this  woman,  and  with  reference  to  this  act, 
Deborah,  a  prophetess,  and  the  judge  of  Israel,  who 
had  predicted,  ''  The  Lord  shall  sell  Sisera  into  the 
hand  of  a  woman,''  sang  a  song  of  triumph  (Jud.  v.  24) : 

"  Blessed  above  women  shall  Jael  the  wife  of  Heber  the  Ke- 
nite  be. 
Blessed  above  women  in  the  tent." 

In  this  connection  we  only  yet  refer  to  untruthful-^  yj^  ^^" 
ness,  endorsed,  and  even  commanded  by  God,  the  un-  o  •^-i!^ 
truthfulness  of  his  most  eminent  servants  in  the  per- 
formance of  their  highest  official  acts.     There  is  an 
instance  of  this  in  the  history  of  Samuel,  when  sent 


62  MORAL  INCONGRUITIES. 

bj  God  to  the  house  of  Jesse  in  Bethlehem,  to  anoint 
David  as  king  over  Israel  (1  Sam.  xvi.  1-6).  Sam- 
uel expostulating  asks,  '^'How  can  I  go?  If  Saul 
hear  it,  he  will  kill  me.'  And  the  Lokd  said,  Take  a 
heifer,  and  say,  '  I  am  come  to  sacrifice  to  the  Lord,' 
and  call  Jesse  to  the  sacrifice,  and  I  will  show  thee 
what  thou  shalt  do ;  and  thou  shalt  anoint  him  whom 
I  name  unto  thee."  It  may  be  said  that  he  offered 
the  sacrifice,  and  therefore  his  words  were  true.  But 
the  man  must  be  very  dull  of  apprehension,  or  anx- 
ious at  all  hazards  to  maintain  that  Old  Testament 
revelation  embodies  the  highest  ideal  of  truth  and  vir- 
tue, who  can  deny  that  the  words  were  intended  to 
deceive  Saul  with  regard  to  the  object  of  the  prophet's 
journey.  The  action  is  boldly,  but  appropriately,  de- 
scribed in  the  chapter-heading  of  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion :  "  Samuel^  sent  ly  God,  under  pretence  of  a  sac- 
rifice, anoints  David.^'' 

A  similar  case  may  be  found  in  the  history  of  the 
prophet  Elisha  (2  Kings  vi.  18-20).  The  king  of 
Syria  sent  a  large  force  to  Dothan,  where  Elisha  for 
the  time  abode,  intending  to  capture,  and  probably  to 
destroy  him.  In  answer  to  his  prayer  the  spies  who 
came  to  the  city  to  search  for  him  were  smitten  with 
blindness.  When  they  approached  him  "  he  said  to 
them,  '  This  is  not  the  way,  neither  is  this  the  city ; 
follow  me,  and  I  will  bring  you  to  the  man  whom  ye 
seek.'  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  were  come 
into  Samaria,  that  Elisha  said,  '  Lord,  open  the  eyes 
of  these  men  that  they  may  see.'  And  the  Lord 
opened  their  eyes  and  they  saw,  and  they  were  in  Su- 


MORAL  INCONGRUITIES.  63 

n.aria."  So  his  safety  was  secured  by  an  artifice. 
We  are  not  distinctly  told  that  the  falsehood  uttered 
was  in  this  instance  directly  suggested  by  the  inspiring 
Spirit,  but  the  divine  power  which  was  essential  to  its 
success,  and  which  might  as  easily  have  saved  him 
without  the  violation  of  truth,  was  invoked  and 
granted  for  its  confirmation.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  it  is  all,  just  as  it  stands,  quite  in  keep- 
ing with  the  morality  of  the  times,  and  if  the  false- 
hood had  been  avoided,  a  very  artistic,  realistic,  and 
effective  story  would  have  been  quite  spoiled. 

Those  who  contend  for  the  absolute  inerrancy  of 
the  Bible,  vindicating  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New  on  the  same  basis,  as  made  up  of  precisely  simi- 
lar material,  and  making  every  word  as  truly  divine 
and  immaculate  as  if  suggested  by  the  mechanical  in- 
spiration they  disclaim,  are  not  aware  how  many  there 
are  that  cannot  hold  to  their  theory  in  the  face  of  such 
obstacles,  how  many  outside  their  own  safe  camp 
are  wandering  in  darkness,  repelled  from  the  glorious 
grace  of  the  New  Testament  and  a  divine  Saviour  by 
the  incomprehensible  and  discordant  elements  they 
find  in  the  mass  of  writings  through  which  they 
must  grope,  as  the  only  legitimate  entrance  to  the 
temple  of  truth.  We  are  surely  warranted  in  seek- 
ing to  win  them  back,  in  correcting  what  we  deem 
mistaken  apprehensions  of  the  revelation  of  God  in 
the  Scriptures. 

Let  us  now  take  our  bearings,  in  order  to  ascertain 
precisely  where  we  are,  as  the  result  of  what  we  have 
supposed  an  advance  movement.     We  are  prepared 


64  MOEAL  INCONGRUITIES. 

to  find  that  some  will  regard  it  as  a  retreat  before  the 
enemy.  But  we  still  claim  that  on  general  principles 
the  abandonment  of  an  untenable  position  is  not  nec- 
essarily a  weakening  of  the  defence.  It  may  be  most 
emphatically  the  opposite. 

Have  we  then,  it  may  be  asked,  an  uncertain 
Scripture?  Can  we  be  satisfied  when  we  feel  the 
ground  trembling  under  our  feet?  What  have  we 
that  we  can  rely  upon  w^ith  implicit  confidence  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  great  God  and  ourselves,  and 
to  the  eternal  verities  ? 

If  we  reply  that  there  is  an  absolutely  trustworthy 
element  in  the  complex  ma^s,  which  preponderates 
over  the  human  and  imperfect,  it  may  reasonably  be 
asked,  how  can  the  divine  be  distinguished  from  the 
human  ?  We  hope  to  have  a  better  answer  by  and 
by  than  we  are  yet  prepared  with,  or  rather,  better 
than  can  be  appreciated  until  some  other  things  have 
been  said.  We  are  working  our  way  toward  results, 
but  not  too  precipitately. 

It  is  usually  assumed  that  where  such  questions 
arise,  reason   must  decide.     Those  who  ^'have  their 
senses  exercised  to  discern  between  good  and  evil " 
need  not  be  often  perplexed.     But  this  is  liable  to 
be  exclaimed   against,  as  profanely  exalting  reason 
above  Scripture.      To  say  that  we  may  go   boldly 
through  the  Bible,  and  accept  as  divine  and  authorita- 
tive only  what  commends  itself  to  our  own  individual 
\  judgment  as  worthy  of  God,  will  be  pronounced  no 
I  better   than   the    baldest   rationalism.      It    must    be 
/  granted  that  it  sounds  somewhat  so.     But  we  shall 


MOKAL  INCONGRUITIES.  65 

see  by  and  by.  It  may  be  that  mitigating  circum- 
stances will  be  discovered,  that  should  modify  the 
severity  of  the  judgment,  or  even  so  change  the 
quality  of  the  act  as  utterly  to  absolve  us  from  the 
charge  of  rationalism. 

And  what  if  we  shall  assert  that  the  divine  so  perme- 
ates the  human,  or  ratlier,  that  in  the  purpose  of  the 
inspiring  Spirit  it  so  includes  it,  that  they  cannot  be 
mechanically  separated  without  the  mutilation  of  the 
system  which  it  was  the  purpose  of  God  to  produce 
for  the  instruction  and  guidance  of  men,  in  the  past, 
if  not  in  the  present.  Do  we  not  read  in  another  \ 
department  of  divine  administration  of  the  growing 
of  tares  with  the  wheat,  not  to  be  separated  till  the  i 
harvest?  And  do  we  not  see  something  like  it  in 
the  wondrous  scheme  of  divine  providence,  evil 
commingled  with  the  good,  the  evil  suffered  and  the 
good  directly  originated  by  the  divine  will,  and  the 
evil  so  often  overruled  for  good,  and  itself  the  means 
of  greater  good  in  the  future?  God  will  effect  the 
separation  in  due  time.  Meanwhile  if  we,  in  the  use 
of  conscience  and  enlightened  reason,  distinguish  be- 
tween them  in  moral  decisions  that  relate  to  the 
regulation  of  our  own  lives,  shall  we  be  charged  with 
rationalism  ? 

With  reference  to  error  other  than  moral,  we  may 
surely  claim  with  abundant  warrant  in  Scripture  that 
this  revelation  was  of  such  excellent  and  enduring 
quality  and  nature,  that  its  substance  and  spirit  were 
not  bound  down  to  the  letter,  and  could  not  be  injured 
by  great  variation   from  the  inspired  statement,  in- 


66  MORAL  INCONGRUITIES. 

volving  even  some  inaccuracies  in  matters  of  fact. 
We  have  already  referred  to  our  Saviour's  indorse- 
ment and  free  use  of  a  translation  which  no  textual 
critic  would  employ  in  restoring  the  original  readings, 
except  most  cautiously  and  discriminatively ;  a  trans- 
lation which  is  often  paraphrastic,  and  in  prophecy  as 
well  as  in  history,  widely  astray  from  the  inspired 
thought ;  a  translation  which  pushes  forward  a  hundred 
years  the  age  of  each  antediluvian  patriarch  at  the 
birth  of  his  eldest  son,  and  by  its  plausible  perversion 
of  the  Hebrew  text  in  the  instance  we  have  mentioned 
at  the  close  of  Chapter  YII.,  betrayed  an  apostle  into 
chronological  inaccuracy.  The  opinion  of  Prof. 
Green  as  there  cited,  justifying  St.  Paul's  inaccuracy, 
is  conclusive,  and  embodies  a  principle  of  immense 
value,  as  applicable  to  many  similar  cases :  "  Precision 
of  statement  was  of  no  co7isequence  to  his  arguntentP 

We  do  not,  however,  desire  to  ignore  or  treat  with 
contempt  the  honest  fear  of  those  who  are  thinking 
of  infidel  attack  and  apologetic  controversy,  and  that 
if  we  concede  that  the  Old  Testament  is  not  in  errant 
to  the  letter  everything  precious  is  sacrificed.  They 
fear  that  all  is  lost  if  any  one  of  the  alleged  "  mis- 
takes of  Moses  "  should  be  proven,  or  if  it  be  con- 
ceded that  any  prophet,  poet,  or  historian  has  used 
language  which  does  not  accord  with  the  highest 
conception  of  God,  or  the  most  perfect  results  of  his 
grace  in  the  thoughts  and  lives  of  men. 

But  can  any  one  seriously  contend  that  our  confi- 
dence in  the  Bible  as  a  genuine  revelation  must  be 
abandoned,  even  should  we  be  obliged  to  admit  that 


MORAL  INCONGRUITIES.  67 

the  memoir  of  Adam  is  a  myth,  the  story  of  Jonah  a 
drama,  or  the  Book  of  Daniel  the  production  of  a 
later  age  than  tradition  has  assigned  to  it  ? 

Yet  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  these  interrogative 
and  hypothetical  concessions  represent  the  personal 
opinion  of  the  writer.  They  only  express  the  strength 
of  his  conviction  that  no  conclusions  that  may  be 
reached  with  reference  to  matters  so  far  from  the 
centre  of  light  and  truth  can  shake  the  hold  of  these 
Scriptures  upon  his  heart. 


IX. 


TURNING  FOEWAED.  —  GENERAL  CON- 
SIDEEATIOKS. 

Examples  of  imperfection  in  the  Scriptures,  of  the 
kind  indicated  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  might  be 
multiplied  indefinitely.  But  enough  doubtless  have 
been  given  to  arouse  in  many  minds  the  most  serious 
apprehension — enough  to  discredit  the  whole  volume, 
unless  a  broader  definition  can  be  found  for  the 
inspiration  that  produced  it  than  any  that  has  yet 
been  advanced.  It  may  be  questioned  by  some 
whether  a  reasonable  and  intelligible  definition  can 
ever  be  adjusted  to  pl:kenomena  so  contrary  to  pre- 
vailing conceptions  of  the  possible  contents  of  an 
inspired  book. 

Especially  shocking  are  its  moral  blemishes.  God 
may  'permit  evil  to  be  done  without  launching  his 
thunderbolts  against  it.  But  can  \\^  do  evil,  or  sug- 
gest it,  or  approve  and  reward  it?  And  what  cor- 
rective can  be  compounded  for  the  injury  that  may 
result  from  such  disclosures  ?  To  devout  readers  of 
the  Bible  it  has  been  an  ideal  of  perfectness,  in  ac- 
cordance with  whose  rulings  all  human  conduct  must 
be  judged,  and  api)roved  or  condemned.  What  shall 
they  do,  if  their  ideal  is  shattered  before  their  eyes  ? 
(68) 


TURNING  FORWARD.  69 

It  were  better,  it  may  be  said,  not  to  have  spoken 
so  plainly,  and  even  under  sceptical  pressure,  not  to 
admit  so  much, — better  to  have  left  men  the  comfort 
even  of  a  delusion, — than  to  destroy  their  confidence 
in  the  consummate  immaculateness  of  the  Scriptures. 
There  must  indeed  have  been  a  shrinking  from  the 
task,  it  would  probably  have  been  declined  as  too 
painful,  if  relief  from  perplexities  had  not  been  visible 
in  the  distance — reasons  why  God  should  employ  / 
fallible  men  as  the  medium  of  communication  with 
their  kind,  and  might  suffer  their  work  to  contain 
such  errors  as  in  his  judgment  would  not  impair  the 
ultimate  moral  purpose  and  value  of  the  revelation, 
but  might,  on  the  contrary,  greatly  enhance  its  effect- 
iveness. 

It  may  not  be  the  way  that  our  poor  human  sagacity 
would  have  indicated,  if  we  had  been  permitted  to 
suggest  the  best  method.  But  "the  foolishness  of 
God  is  wiser  than  men,  and  the  weakness  of  God  is 
stronger  than  men."  By  profounder  thought  we  may 
discover  this,  even  in  imperfections  the  mention  of 
which  is  vehemently  exclaimed  against,  as  only  evil 
and  destructive. 

What  is  inspiration  f  It  is  a  question  of  sur- 
passing interest,— one  that  can  no  longer  be  evaded. 
Even  within  the  few  days  that  have  elapsed  since  the 
preceding  chapters  were  written  it  has  become  evident 
that  the  investigations  that  are  to  determine  the 
ecclesiastical  standing  of  two  distinguished  Theo- 
logical Professors  will  turn  principally  upon  their 
denial  of  the  inerrancy  of  the  Bible,  as  contrary  to 


70  INSPIRATION. 

the  cardinal  doctrine  tauglit  in  the  Scriptures  and  in 
the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
that  "  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  N^ew  Testaments 
are  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice." 

Much  as  religious  controversy  is  to  be  deplored,  if 
even  in  the  heat  of  controversy  a  definition  might  be 
forged  that  shall  remove  its  cause,  all  will  be  well. 
Too  often  these  ardent  discussions  open  up  new  dif- 
ferences of  opinion,  excite  acrimony,  and  separate 
rather  than  unite.  Let  our  fervent  supplications 
ascend  that  in  this  instance  an  issue  so  disastrous 
may  be  averted. 
I  It  was  stated  in  the  second  chapter  that  the  theory 
of  the  absolute  inerrancy  of  Scripture  is  an  a  priori 
conclusion.  That  is,  it  does  not  result  from  observa- 
tion and  thought  directed  to  facts,  but  is  derived 
inferentially  from  an  antecedent.  It  is  reasoning 
from  cause  to  effect,  determining  from  the  former 
what  we  shall  find  in  the  latter. 

This  is  an  excellent  way  of  attaining  some  proba- 
bility, if  not  certainty,  in  the  absence  of  known  facts. 
But  it  is  speculative  and  very  fallacious.  A  conclu- 
sion reached  by  this  process  should  never  be  affirmed 
positively  unless  the  antecedent  is  axiomatic,  nor 
unless  furthermore  it  is  sure  that  no  contingency  can 
possibly  have  occurred  that  might  invalidate  the 
inference.  Those  not  accustomed  to  the  technicalities 
of  logic  are  not  aware  of  the  mental  process  by  which 
their  conviction  upon  this  subject  has  been  reached, 
if  not  by  themselves,  by  those  from  whose  teaching 
they  have  imbibed  it.       ^ 


TURNING  FORWARD.  71 

In  this  case  the  matter  to  be  determined  is  the 
absolute  perfeetness  of  the  Scriptures  in  every  part. 
The  antecedent  is  inspiration  by  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
properly,  the  inspiration  of  the  prophets  or  other  n 
mediators  of  a  divine  revelation  ;  inferentially,  of  their  "'  J^"^^ 
writings.  But  the  inference  is  not  simple  and  direct.  ;,^>.v/Cr,  i 
There  are  tioo  middle  terms,  either  of  which  may  modify  j^ZZUC^  ] 
the  effectiveness  of  the  antecedent,  and  consequently 
the  soundness  of  the  conclusion.  The  Ji?'st  is  that 
the  inspiring  Spirit  is  possessed  of  perfect  knowledge 
and  cannot  directly  communicate  any  error.  This  is 
unquestionable.  The  second  is  an  inference  from  the 
first,  namely,  that  any  person  or  writing  inspired  by 
the  Spirit  must  be  absolutely  inerrant,  whatsoever 
obstruction  may  intervene.  It  is  included  in  a  mere 
general  proposition,  that  every  divine  activity  must 
produce  absolute  perfection,  without  reference  to  any 
contingencies  or  intermediate  conditions.  This  is 
most  decidedly  questionable — to  be  tested  and  verified. 
If  any  product  of  creative  power  can  be  discovered 
that  was  not,  at  the  first  moment  of  its  existence, 
perfect  as  God  is  perfect,  that  despatches  it.  The 
a  priori  process,  relied  upon  for  proof  of  the  in- 
errancy of  Scripture,  is  vitiated  hopelessly.  The 
premises  have  failed  and  the  conclusion  is  a  nullity. 

We  have  proposed  to  reverse  the  process.     The  re-     \- -i*' 
suits  of  inspiring  energy  are  before  us  in  a  divine  rev-     '      ' 
elation.     We  all  agree  upon  that.     All  theories  and  (>>^  ^^P^ 
hypotheses  are  to  be  tested  by  facts,  if  facts  are  within  ^v^J\^Tr 
reach.     The  revelation,  as  expressed  by  human  Ian-  ^'j^J^-^^^ 
guage  and  thought  in  the  Scriptures,  exhibits  the  j)/ie-  l\tu^  M-a 


72    ^-^^"-^  inspiration:  /t^v^^^j— -^,- 

.j^^^  riomena  oi  inspiration.  13y  their  careful  Examination 
ki^'t^^  may  get  some  glimpse  of  the  noumena^  or  divine 
jJ^J  U  conceptions  in  which  they  originate.  In  other  words, 
<n^^  Otjwe  may  learn  from  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  some- 
^*^V*''  /  r"^^^  about  the  inspiration  that  produced  them,  and 
'^T^  j  how  far  it  has  been  deflected  from  its  proper  ideal 
perfectness  by  earthly  conditions. 

"We  shall  then  be  prepared  to  produce  a  definition 
a  posteriori^  reasoning  from  the  effect  to  its  cause, 
from  the  consequent  to  the  antecedent,  from  the  rev- 
elation that  lies  before  us  in  the  Bible  to  the  principle 
and  method  of  the  originating  divine  activity. 

If  we  discover  errors  of  fact,  or  any  imperfections, 
we  shall  learn  by  the  same  careful  induction  how  and 
why  they  have  obtained  entrance ;  and  also  how  un- 
important they  are,  in  any  sense  that  depreciates  the 
value  of  the  Book, — and  how  important  and  valuable, 
if  not  necessary,  was  the  divine  sufferance  of  these 
blemishes  in  the  accompHshment  of  the  ruling  pur- 
pose of  the  revelation. 
. ;  It  scarcely  needs  to  be  said  that  the  Bible  does  not 
;  define  inspiration.  J^either  does  it  contain  any  state- 
ment upon  the  subject  that  implies  the  absolute  per- 
fectness of  what  was  spoken  or  written  by  the  bearer 
of  a  divine  revelation.  The  reference  to  Scripture  as 
"  God-inspired ''''  in  2  Tim.  iii.  16  does  not,  nor  the 
reference  to  holy  men  of  God  as  "  moved  hy  the  Holy 
Ghost^''  in  1  Pet.  i.  21.  JSTeither  of  these  expressions 
intimates  the  degree  in  which  the  prophet's  mental 
activities  were  controlled  by  the  inspiring  Spirit.  It 
is    nowhere    asserted   that   those  who   are    inspired 


TURNING  FORWARD.  73 

thereby  become  possessed  of  all  knowledge,  nor  that 
they  are  elevated  morally  and  intellectually  above  all 
possibility  of  mistake  or  error,  so  that  the  thought  of 
man  can  never  in  the  future,  even  by  divine  aid,  at- i  r 
tain  better  results. 

The  contrary  is  implied  in  1  Cor,  xiii.  9-12,  where 
St.  Paul  says  of  apostolic  utterances  in  general,  ^'For 
we  know  {71  part,  and  we  prophesy  inpart^^;  "now 
we  see  through  a  glass  darkly  ";  and  he  compares  his 
own  present  inspiration,  in  its  contrast  to  the  perfect 
disclosures  of  the  future,  to  the  difference  in  thought 
and  speech  between  childhood  and  mature  age.     If 

error  w^ere  impossible  under  the  divine  afflatus  we     ^,    

should  not  find  the  martyr  Stephen,  when  "  full  of  the  ,,4  '^-^j.  ^-^^ 
Holy  Ghost,"  and  his  face  transformed  through  the  in-  V  Ak  .  ^ 
spiration  "  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel,"  making 
unconsciously  at  least  two  statements  that  contradict  the 
Old  Testament  (Acts  vii.,  viii.).     Even  the  convenient 
evasion  that  these  errors  may  have  resulted  from  the  j^  J /i\Ayi 
carelessness  of  copyists  has  never  been  ventured  here.  O-O^ 

Especially,  if  inspiration  implies  inerrancy,  it  could  ,      *  ^  f ' 
not  have  been  possible  that  one  apostle  should  say  of 
another,  who  was  acting  under  the  highest  official  re- 
sponsibility as  the   leader  and   guide  of  a  body  of  ^  X#l   c ' 
Christians,  "I  withstood  him  to  the  face  because  he    yy^^  \ 
was  to  be  blamed  "  (Gal.  iii.  12).     But  with  the  con-  '^^^y*-*^**^ 
sciousness  that  they  are  not  perfect,  the  prophets  and 
apostles  exhibit  a  firm  conviction  that  they  are  bear- 
ers of  a  divine  and  authoritative  message,  and  they  /  1 
sometimes  distinguish  their  inspired  instructions  from  /  ^^^"^^^ 
the  products  of  their  own  thought.  ' 


74  INSPIRATION. 

It  was  intimated  at  the  beginning  tliat  the  task  of 
framing  a  fresh  definition  of  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures  in  place  of  that  which  thorough  Bibhcal 
disciphne  finds  untenable,  is  very  difficult.  We  are 
suflficiently  warned  against  other  a  priori  definitions, 
not  ascertained  by  thorough  induction.  An  early 
college  recollection  has  not  died  out,  of  a  conceited 
Sophomore  who  amused  his  companions,  upon  hear- 
ing them  compare  notes  about  the  respective  amounts 
of  their  reading  in  history,  by  scornfully  declaring  his 
own  superior  method :  "  I  lay  down  my  principles, 
and  deduce  my  facts."  A  delightful  labor-saving 
way  of  attaining  certain  knowledge,  with  the  advan- 
tage of  being  able  to  deposit  in  one's  repertory  just 
what  facts  may  seem  desirable.  This  would  be  all 
very  well  for  a  dream-world, — if  one  might  weave 
airy  fancies  and  without  contact  with  his  fellow-men 
ascend  straightway  to  heaven.  But  this  hard  world 
declines  to  accept  such  facts,  and  asks  sharp  questions 
testing  their  validity. 

The  theory  of  verbal  inspiration  is  compact  and 
simple, — apparently  a  short  and  easy  method  of  re- 
pelling the  assaults  of  scepticism.  The  claim  that  the 
Bible  is  all — every  word  and  syllable — the  product  of 
divine  suggestion,  seems  to  be  one  that  must  silence 
all  questioning, — that  is,  if  it  can  be  successfully 
maintained  against  the  keen  scrutiny  of  hostile  criti- 
cism. 

But  not  unfrequently  the  very  simplicity  and  con- 
venience of  a  proposed  method  of  performing  work 
or  escaping  difficulty,  is  suspicious.    This  is  especially 


TURNING  FORWARD.  75 

so  where  the  conditions  to  be  provided  for  are  com- 
plex and  variable,  as  they  surely  are  in  the  subject 
before  us.  In  a  definition,  obscurity  and  inadequacy 
may  result  from  a  desire  to  use  terms  that  are  general 
and  comprehensive,  that  exhibit,  it  may  be,  a  mere 
abstraction,  supposed  to  be  applicable  to  innumerable 
special  instances,  with  the  consequent  merit  of  con- 
ciseness, and  apparent  freedom  from  all  possibility  of 
entanglement.  But  when  we  come  to  distribute  the 
general  into  the  particulars  it  is  supposed  to  cover  or 
contain,  these  may  be  found  to  differ  so  widely  in 
character  and  quality  as  to  pass  beyond  the  limit  it 
was  thought  would  include  them. 

This  is  so  to  a  remarkable  degree  with  our  present 
theme.  The  component  elements  in  the  revelation 
are  so  varied  in  substance  and  in  form,  in  time  and  in 
conditions,  and  the  issue  is  so  complicated  by  the  pres- 
ence of  a  human  coefficient,  that  a  satisfactory  defini- 
tion of  the  divine  energy  involved  in  the  joint  prod- 
uct, cannot  be  compressed  into  a  single  sentence. 

Inspiration^  considered  merely  as  a  word,  may  be 
suflSciently  defined  after  the  fashion  of  our  dictiona- 
ries by  the  equivalent  and  simpler  word  in-hreathing. 
But  this  leaves  us  as  far  as  ever  from  any  clear  con- 
ception of  the  act.  Or  if,  after  the  a  jyriorl  method 
we  have  described,  we  begin  with  the  highest  concep- 
tion of  the  truth  and  power  of  God,  and  the  conse- 
quent necessary  perfection  of  his  work,  as  our  pos- 
tulate, and  claim  inferentially  that  the  breathing  of 
his  Holy  Spirit  into  the  minds  of  men  must  produce 
the  absolute  exactness  of  every  word  spoken  or  written 


76  INSPIRATION. 

under  that  influence,  our  conclusion  may  possibly 
seem  to  us,  in  the  insufficiency  of  our  training  in  dialec- 
tics, to  be  fully  warranted  by  the  severest  logic.  But 
we  may  be  called  to  face  and  account  for  many  in- 
stances in  which  some  counter  influence  has  impaired 
the  perfect  expression  of  the  divine  thought  and  will, 
and  our  deflnition  has  made  no  provision  against  such 
failure.  We  stand  aghast,  and  are  helpless.  We  can 
only  vociferate  against  the  irreverence  that  refuses  our 
definitions,  quote  irrelevantly  from  Scripture  or 
incoherently  from  Confessions,  and  if  possible,  stamp 
out  the  heresy  by  ecclesiastical  arraignment.  But  it 
is  all  in  vain.  Facts  are  stubborn.  Galileo  may 
be  scorched  by  the  inquisition,  hut  the  earth  re- 
volves. 

It  will  be  understood  as  beyond  question  that  no 
human  intelligence  can  penetrate  the  mystery  per- 
taining to  the  interior  relation  and  combined  efficiency 
of  the  two  incomprehensible  factors.  Our  Saviour's 
wonderful  comparison  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  new  birth  to  the  wind,  will  apply  to  inspiration 
as  well  as  to  regeneration.  Yet  by  moving  slowly 
we  may  get  a  sufficient  idea  for  all  practical  purposes. 
Here,  as  often  in  the  presence  of  the  Infinite,  we 
must  needs  skim  the  surface.  But  an  explanation 
confined  to  the  indisputable  phenomena  in  the  docu- 
ments which  we  hold  as  inspired,  will  meet  all  the  re- 
quirements of  the  case  as  connected  with  our  present 
embarrassment. 

It  must  be  kept  steadily  before  us,  that  not  from  a 
preconception,  but  a  posteriori,  from   the  character- 


y^d/(^  u  L-Llxr  U 


TURNING  FORWARD.  77 

aniLdesigu  of  the  revelation  as  now  to  be  developed, 
and  in  connection  with  all  that  it  necessarily  implies, 
we  are  to  obtain  a  suitable  idea  of  the  agency  that 
produced  it.  It  may  be  that  in  order  to  this,  our 
conception  of  both  these  important  words  needs 
broadening. 


X. 

mSPIEATION  DEFINED  BY  KEYELATION. 

The  Bible  in  its  unity  may  be  correctly  described 
as  a  revelation.  Tliis  is  a  compact  statement,  appar- 
ently very  simple  and  intelligible.  But  the  word 
revelation^  like  inspiration^  is  somewhat  ambiguous 
and  indeterminate.  In  order  to  be  of  service  in  solv- 
ing our  problem  it  needs  to  be  defined. 

Yet  it  is  a  very  graphic  word.  Even  upon  its 
surface  it  is  splendidly  illuminative  in  describing  the 
substance  and  significance  of  the  Bible  in  its  entire 
breadth,  history  and  doctrine,  prophecy  and  poetry. 
Strictly  speaking,  inspiration  is  only  concerned  in 
publishing  a  revelation  to  those  for  whom  it  was 
intended,  in  such  method  and  form  as  shall  best 
insure  its  efiiciency  with  reference  to  some  divine 
purpose.  We  see  at  once  that  while  the  two  differ, 
they  are  nearly  related,  and  our  knowledge  of  one 
must  aid  us  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  other. 

The  word  revelation  is  usually  limited  to  utterances 
that  embody  truth  or  fact  not  before  known,  and 
which  might  never  have  become  known  except 
through  special  illumination.  If  this  were  all,  it 
would  not  apply  to  a  very  large  part  of  the  Bible, — to 
many  historical  Books  scarcely  at  all.  But  the  limi- 
tation cannot  be  maintained. 
(78) 


DEFINED  BY  REVELATION.  79 

We  have  already  seen  that  all  Scripture — Iiistoric, 
prophetic,  and  didactic — is  material  for  Biblical  The- 
ology. It  has  become  evident  that  new  aspects  of 
divine  power,  wisdoin,  holiness,  j'lstice,  truth,  and 
grace,  as  interwoven  from  the  first  with  human 
affairs,  may  be  disclosed  in  accounts  that  contain 
nothing  supernatural  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
term,  but  are  made  up  of  events  that  have  been 
ascertained  through  personal  observation  of  the  histo- 
rian, or  information  by  others.  The  transcendent 
value  of  the  revelation  lies  rather  in  its  containing 
sublime  facts  concerning  God's  dealings  with  men, 
than  in  the  record  that  details  them,  or  the  inspiration 
by  which  it  was  produced. 

"We  ask,  then,  as  a  preliminary  inquiry,  ^Yliat  is 
revelation  f  Its  helpfulness  will  appear  almost  imme- 
diately. 

It  is  one  of  the  figurative  words  from  the  Latin 
that  enrich  our  language.  It  precisely  corresponds 
with  apocalypse  from  the  Greek,  whose  related  verb 
is  always  in  the  New  Testament  translated  reveal. 
Literally  it  denotes  a  divine  activity  in  putting  aside 
a  veilj  in  order  that  something  may  be  seen  which 
was  before  invisible.  The  noun  is  often  used  pas- 
sively of  that  which  is  revealed  or  disclosed,  as  in  the 
title  to  the  last  Book  in  the  Bible,  The  Revelation  of 
St.  John. 

The  word  itself  is  of  less  consequence  to  our  present 
purpose  than  its  necessary  implications.  It  implies 
a  divine  activity,  and  a  definite  purpose  in  its  exercise. 
It  also  implies  a  subject-matter  to  be  revealed,  and  a 


80  INSPIRATION 

recipient.  The  subject^  the  recipient^  and  the  divine 
purpose  particularly  concern  us  now,  and  must  be 
successively  treated  in  their  bearing  upon  the  princi- 
pal inquiry :  What  is  revealed  f  To  whom  is  it 
revealed  f  and  with  what  design  f  The  repHes  to 
these  questions,  in  their  present  significance  for  our 
purpose,  lie  close  together. 

Is  it  possible  to  answer  the  first  of  these  questions 
comprehensively  in  a  single  word  ?  What  is  revealed  ? 
What  substance  underlies  the  phenomena  of  the 
revelation  ?  Surely  the  Bible  throughout  its  whole 
extent  reveals  God — the  one  living  God. 
I  Yet  not  his  existence  in  the  abstract,  as  a  matter  of 
philosophic  thought;  but  in  his  voluntary  relations 
with  men,  as  a  wise,  righteous,  and  almighty  moral 
Governor,  a  loving  Father,  and  a  gracious  Saviour — 
in  all  admirable,  attractive,  and  endearing  qualities. 

Here  two  of  the  implications  in  the  word,  combine. 
The  Kevealer  is  also  himself  the  revelation.  IS'o 
attribute  of  his  nature  is  more  strongly  marked  than 
that  which  is  described  by  the  adjective  self -revealing. 
He  is  always  manifesting  himself  in  aspects  important 
to  men.  This  was  the  light  shining  in  darkness  from 
the  beginning.  Every  divine  name  is  the  revelation 
of  some  sublime  truth  concerning  God,  to  be  known 
and  cherished  as  of  the  deepest  interest  to  those  who 
are  involved  in  the  misery  of  sin.  Every  providen- 
tial activity  exhibits  him  as  a  God  near,  and  not  afar 
off,  to  be  feared,  to  be  obeyed,  to  be  trusted,  to  be 
sought  in  every  time  of  trouble. 

In  this  revelation  everything  is  brought  down  to 


DEFINED  BY  REVELATION.  81 

the  simplest  narrative  form,  so  that  even  children  may 
apprehend  it.  There  are  no  metaphysical  abstrac- 
tions. Here  are  impressive  stories  of  individual  life 
in  great  variety — of  men,  women,  and  children  in  cir- 
cumstances of  special  interest,  appealing  to  the  heart 
of  the  great  Father,  and  not  in  vain — and  the  history 
of  families  and  nations,  severally,  and  in  their  com- 
mingling and  contests. 

These  graphic  delineations  are  the  external  investi- 
ture in  which  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth  presents 
himself  before  the  eyes  of  men,  and  he  is  the  living 
spirit  within.  It  is  a  grand  panorama  of  ever  shifting 
scenes,  broken  up,  fragmentary,  in  successive  and 
varied  glimpses,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little.  The 
material  is  diversified  and  the  transitions  are  frequent, 
but  therefore  all  the  more  effective.  All  that  men 
could  bear,  and  more  than  they  could  understand  all 
at  once,  are  simply  and  visibly  portrayed  in  this  reve- 
lation. 

Its  chief  cbaracteristics,^j:fi_niQtlon  and  life — God's 
life  as  the  "  fountain  of  life,"  in  association  with  man's 
life  in  all  its  minute  details,  ever  bearing  on,  in  the 
majesty  of  power,  the  beauty  of  holiness,  and  the 
glory  of  infinite  righteousness  and  grace — ever  bearing 
on  toward  the  restoration  of  all  things. 

The  subjcct-matter^f  the^revelation,  then,  is  God, 
an  infinite  nature,  as  coming  into  intimate  relations 
with  men  in  their  moral  darkness  and  degradation, 
dissipating  the  darkness  by  the  holy  light  of  his  love 
and  truth,  and  lifting  the  fallen  into  the  highest  honor 
and  blessing  in  fellowship  with  himself. 


r^jC\(  ^  The  revelation  Ik  the  first  instance  was  to  the 
prophet,  as  the  divinely  appointed  spokesman  for  God. 
He  must  express  in  human  language  the  divine  con- 
7  ception  with  which  he  was  inspired,  as  nearly  as  he 
could.  There  could  never  be  more  than  an  approxi- 
mation. He  might  possibly  have  expressed  it  in 
variant  forms,  none  of  them  fully  including  or  repre- 
senting, yet  none  of  them  dishonoring,  its  inexhaust- 
ible comprehensiveness. 

But  an  important  distinction  must  be  made  here. 
When  we  speak  of  a  communication  concerning  God 
addressed  to  the  ears  or  eyes  of  men,  as  a  revelation, 
it  was  not  a  revelation  to  them,  in  the  same  sense 
that  the  underlying  thought  was  a  revelation  to  the 
prophet,  but  only  in  a  poor,  objective,  and  superficial 
way.  It  only  embodied,  as  well  as  the  limitations  of 
human  thought  and  the  poverty  of  human  speech 
would  permit,  revealable  truth.  For  all  true  revela- 
tion is  subjective,  interior.  It  is  the  voice  of  God, 
not  speaking  from  a  distance — far  away  in  the  heavens, 
no  one  knows  where — but  vibrating  in  one's  inmost 
soul,  in  tones  which  he  hears  and  in  language  he 
understands.  The  God  who  lives  in  the  system  of 
nature,  and  expresses  in  its  laws  his  thought  and  will, 
dwells  much  more  in  men,  the  life  of  their  life,  and 
the  centre  and  support  of  their  being.  He  reveals 
himself  to  them  as  hnmanent  —  a  word  that  dis- 
tinguishes the  true,  practical,  and  precious  philosophy 
of  religion,  which  we  cannot  expand  now,  but  shall 
say  more  of  in  its  place — ever  working  from  within 
and  not  from  without — in  nature  and  much  more  in 


DEFINED  BY  REVELATION.  8H 

man,  producing  slowly  but  surely  all  beautiful  re- 
sults—God immanent,  to  be  glorified  forever. 

A  true  and  actuaj  revelation  of  God  implies  as  its 
indispensaBTe  co-ordinate,  apprehension.  It  describes 
a  process  that  is  only  complete  when  the  truth  dis- 
closed, through  the  quickening  grace  of  the  Spirit, 
reaches  the  mind  and  heart.  A  hidden  revelation  is 
a  contradiction  in  terms.  A  candle  put  under  a 
bushel  is  not  an  illumination.  For  the  present,  how- 
ever, we  use  the  word  in  its  current  sense,  as  outward 
and  not  inward.  There  will  be  occasion  for  some- 
thing further  in  considering  the  recipients  of  the 
revelation. 

With  this  preamble  as  the  first  step  in  inquiring 
for  the  subject-matter  of  the  revelation,  we  turn  to  the 
Bible  in  its  scope,  plan,  and  the  relation  of  its  principal 
parts  as  exhibited  in  Biblical  Theology.  For  we  have 
the  advantage  of  having  its  substance  and  contents 
thoroughly  prepared  by  capable  and  conscientious 
scholarship  for  our  inductive  consideration. 

The  first  thing  that  impresses  us  in  the  general 
aspect  of  the  Bible,  is  that  it  is  composed  of  many 
portions,  and  these  in  succession  of  time,  sweeping 
over  the  whole  period  of  man's  existence  upon  the 
earth,  down  to  the  revelation  of  the  Son  of  God  in- 
carnate as  the  glorious  finality. 

Even  the  first  of  these  portions,  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  the  book  of  the  beginning  and  origin  of  all 
things,  is  manifold.  It  contains  every  record  pos- 
sessed by  the  Jewish  nation  of  God's  relations  with 
men,  and  every  communication  from  God  for  many 


84  INSPIRATION 

centuries ;  and  it  relates  to  great  varieties  of  condi- 
tion and  need. 

This  is  very  important  in  our  search,  as  characteris- 
tic of  the  whole.  We  have  in  the  Bible,  not  one  com- 
prehensive revelation  of  God  to  all  men  and  for  all 
time,  general  in  its  nature  and  uniform  in  texture  and 
scope.  But  many  successive  revelations  are  here, 
often  with  wide  space  between,  each  having  its  own 
specific  character,  and  adapted  to  the  exigency  of  some 
special  time. 

The  purpose,  significance,  and  value  of  some  of 
these  communications  were  nearly  or  quite  exhausted 
very  soon  after  they  were  made.  There  may  be  some 
general  principle  of  permanent  value,  underlying  any 
special  revelation.  But  that  principle  may  have 
been  well  known  before,  or  it  may  be  axiomatic,  and 
sure  to  be  repeated  in  subsequent  disclosures.  But 
the  precise  conditions  to  which  its  form  was  adapted 
can  never  be  renewed. 
\  We  infer  confidently  that  no  theory  or  definition 
of  inspiration  is  adequate  that  treats  it  as  uniform  in 
the  measure  and  value  of  its  results,  and  equally  good 
for  all  time  and  in  all  connections. 

No  definition  is  adequate  that  fails  to  recognize  the 
historical  and  progressive  principle  in  this  revelation, 
or  to  distinguish  between  the  meagreness  anJimper- 
fection  of  its  earlier  stages,  which  only  partly  dis- 
placed the  crudeness  and  narrowness  of  human 
\  thought,  and  the  divine  fulness  and  perfection  of  the 
final  revelation  of  grace  and  truth  in  Jesus  Christ ;  as 
iwell  as  all  intermediate  gradations,  each  of  the  long 


DEFINED  BY  REVELATION.  85 

series,  in  general,  rising  to  a  somewhat  higher  level 
than  that  which  preceded  it. 

St.  Paul  made  this  distinction,  referring  to  the  Old 
Testament  as  a  whole,  especially  as  symbolized  by  the 
theophany  upon  Sinai,  and  the  temporary  illumina- 
tion of  Moses'  face  when  he  came  dowm  out  of  the 
Mount :  "  For  if  that  which  passeth  away  is  with 
glory,  much  more  shall  that  which  remaineth  be  in* 
glory  "  (2  Cor.  iii.  2.    K.  Y.) 

Let  the  above  suggestion  be  borne  in  mind,  as  a 
valuable  contribution  to  the  a  posteriori  definition  we 
are  in  quest  of.  Historical  progression,  implying 
earlier  insuflBciencj,  is  a  leading  characteristic  of  the 
divine  method  of  inspiration. 


XI. 

THE  HUMAN  COEFFICIENT  IN  EEYELA- 

TION. 

If  the  self-revelation  of  God  in  the  Scriptures  had 
>^J;Ju->'^  been  accomplished   bj  immediate   and   independent 
»^  -  J>^  activity,  or  if  the  human  agency  employed  had  been 
passive  and  mechanical,  the    subject  of    inspiration 
would  have  been  far  less  difficult. 
^coj*^*-  \      But  it  originates  in  the  activity  of  two  personal 
factors,  whose  respective  products  are  not  so  easily 
distinguishable  as    might    be    imagined,  considering 
fiow  much  they  differ.     They  are  combined  in  the 
Same  fabric,  and  so  intimately  that  separation  is  im- 
possible.    Yet  we  know  that  in  individual  contrast 
divine  thought  is  higher  than  human  thought  as  the 
heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth. 

This  is  a  "  mystical  union  "  not  mentioned  as  such 
in  our  theologies.  It  is  just  here  that  our  feeble  com- 
prehension is  most  thoroughly  baffled.  We  can  know 
either  factor  alone  only  in  part, — the  life  and  Spirit 
of  God,  or  the  life  and  spirit  of  man.  In  these 
Scriptures  they  blend,  the  higher  infusing  itself  into 
the  lower  for  gracious  purposes,  and  with  wondrous 
adaptation  of  means  to  the  end. ' 

These  inspired  compositions  throughout  bear  the 
(86) 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT  IN  REVELATION.    87 

human  impress  and  stamp,  and  tliat  of  various  human 
individuaUty.  This  is  partly  exhibited  in  differences 
of  style.  It  lies  in  the  use  of  severally  characteristic 
forms  of  words  and  structure  of  sentences, — in  the 
more  or  less  elevated,  ornate,  or  impassioned  utterance 
of  thought, — in  comparative  clearness  or  obscurity  of 
expression, — in  differences  of  tone  that  indicate  differ- 
ence in  temperament, — in  a  varying  experience  as  af- 
fecting the  feelings  and  character — strains  pitched 
upon  the  major  key  of  exhilaration  and  hope  pre- 
dominating in  one,  and  those  upon  the  minor  key  of 
depression  and  discouragement  in  another. 

It  is  noteworthy  here  that  this  human  coloring, 
taking  its  precise  shade  from  the  individual  agency 
employed,  is  even  more  strongly  marked  in  prophecy, 
with  its  oft-recurring  formula,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord," 
— as  if  every  word  were  purely  divine, — than  in  his- 
tory, professedly  written  by  men.  This  would  seem 
to  indicate  that  the  great  God  not  only  condescended 
to  use  the  language  of  men  in  some  general  way,  but, 
whenever  he  employs  men  as  his  messengers,  must 
needs  transform  himself  into  an  Isaiah,  a  Jeremiah, 
or  an  Ezekiel,  as  respects  all  individual  characteristics 
of  feeling  and  expression,  having  no  style  of  his  own. 
Something  of  the  same  kind  has  been  observed,  and 
commented  upon  unintelligently  by  hostile  criticism, 
in  the  resemblance  between  the  diction  and  style  of 
the  Apostle  John,  and  that  of  our  Saviour  in  the  dis- 
courses recorded  in  the  last  of  the  Gospels. 

The  Scriptural  idea  of  inspiration,  then,  even  in  its 
higher  flights,  admits  of  the  divine  thought  being  cast 


f 


88  THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

into  any  human  mould  that  may  be  selected,  and  bear- 
ing its  impress  so  completely  that  one  judging  by  the 
exterior  form  might  pronounce  it  thoroughly  human, 
yet  claiming  to  be  so  divine  as  to  be  introduced  by  a 
''  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

If  we  turn  to  the  historical  Books,  it  might  seem 
to  superficial  thought  that  only  human  observation, 
sagacity,  and  faithfulness  were  required,  or,  if  inspira- 
tion is  implied  at  all,  that  its  oflSce  was  little  less  than 
absolutely  passive,  nearly  a  sinecure.  The  earlier 
treatises  on  inspiration  make  a  distinction  between  the 
inspiration  of  suggestion,  and  that  of  mere  superin- 
tendence ;  the  latter  finding  its  place  in  historic  de- 
tail, its  province  confined  to  guarding  against  acci- 
dental oversight.  If  the  agents  w^eie  thoroughly 
qualified  long  histories  might  have  been  prepared 
without  need  of  the  active  aid  or  interference  of  the 
superior  power. 

This  might  be  true  of  these  histories,  if  correctness 
were  the  only  requisite  to  the  fulfillment  of  the 
divine  purpose  in  their  preparation. 

But  remembering  what  they  contain,  in  its  highest 
significance  and  value — the  story  of  God's  gracious 
achievements,  guidance,  and  general  providential  ac- 
tivity in  directing  all  human  affairs;  remembering 
what  was  stated  in  describing  Biblical  Theology,  that 
there  is  a  revelation  of  the  living  God  in  the  facts 
here  recorded,  no  less  than  in  didactic  or  prophetic 
utterances,  and  that  these  must  be  related,  if  they  are 
to  be  effective  for  good,  not  as  dry-as-dust  chronicles, 
principally  of  value  to  the  professional  antiquarian  or 


IN  REVELATION.  89 

historian,  but  iii  such  a  waj'  as  to  make  an  impression 
upon  the  hearts  of  all  readers,  in  such  a  way  that  the 
wisdom  of  God  in  providential  appointments  and 
deliverances  may  be  duly  appreciated, — remember- 
ing all  this,  how  necessary  it  is  that  all  the  higher 
faculties  of  the  narrator  should  be  so  wrought  upon 
as  to  do  their  very  best  work,  every  human  power 
that  might  contribute  to  its  completeness  and  effective- 
ness aroused  to  its  highest  capacity  by  the  divine 
Spirit,  who  penetrates  the  deepest  recesses  of  the 
heart,  and  turns  it  whithersoever  he  will. 

It  is  to  this  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  charm  of 
many  of  the  beautiful  and  impressive  Old  Testament 
stories.  It  is  owing  to  this  that  our  children  never  | 
become  weary  of  hearing  them,  and  their  lessons  of 
faith,  obedience,  and  courage,  on  the  part  of  men,  and 
of  wisdom,  power,  love,  and  truth,  in  God,  sink  into 
the  depths  of  their  hearts  and  can  never  be  forgotten. 

They  find  here  exquisite  tales  of  the  personal  rela- 
tions of  men  in  weakness,  sore  peril,  and  distress,  with 
the  great  God  who  rules  in  omnipotence  in  the  heavens 
and  in  the  earth — tales  of  his  tender  care  and  sym- 
pathy with  their  sufferings  and  dangers. 

They  read  of  little  Samuel  responding  to  the  call  of 
God  as  he  lay  by  night  on  his  tiny  couch  in  the 
temple — of  the  lad  Joseph  imprisoned  in  a  cave,  and 
sold  by  his  heartless  brothers  to  Ishmaelites  of  the 
desert — of  baby  Moses  wailing  in  the  bulrushes — of 
Daniel  in  the  lion's  den,  and  of  a  score  of  others. 

A  mother's  lips  may  translate  them  into  language 
suited  to  the  age  of  her  eager  listeners.     Her  version 


90  THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

may  not  be  exact  to  the  letter.  But  do  not  rebuke  her 
inaccuracies,  as  if  verbal  precision  were  all-important. 
She  and  their  heavenly  Father  know  them  better 
than  we — what  will  iix  their  attention — and  w^hat  they 
can  bear.  The  inspiring  Spirit  could  scarcely  improve 
upon  the  inspiration  of  a  mother's  heart,  or  at  least, 
he  condescends  to  use  it  for  his  own  gracious  purpose. 
There  is  no  danger  of  her  spoiling  the  story,  or  marring 
its  effect,  by  her  apparent  perversion.  The  blessed 
substance  is  there,  and  may  be  exhibited  with  many 
delicate  and  delightful  departures  and  interludes,  like 
the  variations  of  a  skillful  composer  upon  some  of  our 
dear  old  tunes,  each  adding  a  fresh  charm  to  the 
original  melody. 

Here  we  see  what  gave  their  prevailing  historic 
form  to  these  early  products  of  inspiration.  They  are 
addressed  through  the  intellect  to  a  part  of  the  nature 
more  susceptible  to  impression,  and  influential  over 
the  life,  especially  in  those  not  trained  to  abstract 
thought,  who  constitute  the  great  bulk  of  mankind. 
They  cannot  understand  a  philosophy,  however  simply 
it  may  be  stated  and  explained.  But  exhibit  it  dra- 
matically in  the  incidents  of  personal  life,  and  they  fol- 
low you  with  the  deepest  interest ;  not  an  item  is  lost. 
They  drink  it  in  eagerly  and  its  moral  impressions 
abide.  Here  lies  the  power  of  graphic  narrative, 
depicting  stirring  scenes  in  individual  existence,  of 
prophetic  utterances  as  woven  into  the  history  of  men, 
and  of  inspired  personal  prayer  and  communion  with 
God,  in  connection  with  personal  danger  and  deliv- 
erance. 


IN  REVELATION.  91 

Thus  even  human  history  may  be  luminous  with 
divine  wisdom,  truth,  and  love.  Perchance  poor,  silly 
men  may  be  convinced  by  such  lessons  that  the 
everlasting  God  will  become  their  friend,  if  they 
crave  his  friendship.  If  they  call  in  their  hour  of 
need,  he  will  hear  them  as  he  heard  others  before 
them.  These  lessons  come  to  them  most  effectively 
through  men  of  like  passions  with  themselves,  human 
hearts  and  human  lips  relating  a  personal  experience 
of  the  mercy  and  faithfulness  of  God. 

It  might  be  feared,  however,  that  any  advantage  in 
moral  impression  through  the  employment  of  men  as 
mediators  of  the  revelation,  might  be  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  resulting  impairment,  that  the 
glorious  light  of  divine  revelation  would  surely  be 
darkened  through  the  imperfect  transmission  of  its 
rays.  Let  us  have,  it  might  be  said,  God's  own  pre- 
cise words,  without  human  intellection  intervening. 
Then  we  shall  know  that  we  have  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  exact  truth. 

This  is  very  plausible,  but  God  knows  better  than 
we.  Our  a  priori  judgment  is  a  delusion,  and  in  con- 
flict with  fact.  What  if  it  be  granted  as  fairly ' 
proven  that  some  slight  impairment  in  the  exterior 
form  has  occurred,  and  that  this  was  permitted  by 
God,  and  wrought  into  his  plan  as  thereby  more 
effective  for  his  purpose  \ 

Here  Biblical  Theology  adv^ances  to  our  aid,  with 
its  careful  scrutiny,  in  accordance  with  its  principle 
and  methods  as  already  described.  It  takes  the 
Scriptures  apart,  and  carefully  observing  the  historic 


92  THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

order,  so  far  as  it  can  be  approximately  ascertained 
by  the  preliminary  discipline,  it  judges  each  prin- 
cipal portion,  both  in  general  scope  and  in  detail, 
by  its  own  specific  period  and  its  manifest  par- 
pose  as  then  to  be  accomplished,  and  not  by  the  ad- 
vanced illumination  and  needs  of  our  own  more  fa- 
vored time.  It  enables  us  to  understand  how  a  gen- 
uine revelation  of  God  may  be  somewhat  impaired, 
its  images  confused,  discolored  and  distorted,  bypass- 
ing through  an  imperfect  medium,  not  transparent, 
but  feebly  translucent ;  yet  the  impairment  graciously 
permitted,  because  the  divine  thought  was  thus  better 
adapted  to  the  still  lower  intellectual  and  spiritual  ap- 
prehension it  was  intended  to  reach. 

The  prophet  is  a  man,  not  over- wise,  and  only  par- 
tially receptive  to  divine  truth ;  and  the  people  to 
whom  he  is  sent  are  human,  and  much  more  ignorant 
than  he.  The  Deity  as  discerned  through  this  narrow 
human  capacity,  the  higher  as  well  as  the  lower,  the 
prophet  and  the  people  alike,  is  necessarily  in  some 
degree  humanized,  anthropomorphic,  brought  down 
to  man's  native  standard  of  thought,  feeling,  and  ac- 
tion. The  objective  illumination  was  perfect.  The 
prophet  took  in  for  the  people  what  he  could,  and 
could  give  them  no  more  than  he  had.  As  an  exhibi- 
tion of  the  God  of  glory,  it  was  poor,  feeble,  and  un- 
worthy. Nevertheless,  it  was  much  nearer  the  true 
conception,  than  could  have  been  possible,  but  for  the 
revelation. 

Through  the  inspiration  came  light,  at  first  glim- 
mering faintly  through  the  darkness ;  yet  true  light, 


IN  REVELATION.  93 

for  darkness  cannot  emit  even  the  faintest  glimmer. 
It  is  like  the  omnipotent  touching  of  tlie  blind  man's 
eyes,  as  related  in  the  Gospels.  He  saw  very  obscurely, 
but  he  actually  saw.  His  vision  was  far  from  perfect 
at  first.  It  was  very  poor.  The  objects  before  it 
were  uncertain  in  outline,  color,  and  movement,  and 
blurred  in  all  minor  details.  But  notwithstanding,  it 
was  true  vision,  and  not  optical  illusion.  It  conveyed 
some  correct  apprehension  to  the  brain.  It  was  men 
that  were  seen,  not  grotesque  monsters ;  as  ti^ees^  not 
as  reptiles  prone  to  the  earth ;  walking^  not  crawling. 

So  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  divine  impress  is 
upon  it  all.  It  is  the  light  shining  in  darkness, — not 
our  midday  sunlight,  but  relatively  bright  and  pure, 
suggesting  unlimited  possibilities  of  increase, — cast 
athwart  the  opacity  and  moral  abomination  of  hea- 
thendom. Even  that  degraded  heathendom  must  re- 
ceive from  it  some  glimpse  of  a  higher  type  of  divin- 
ity than  it  had  ever  before  recognized — a  living  God, 
a  spiritual  God,  a  personal  God,  a  holy  God  ;  one  that 
can  see,  hear,  speak,  promise,  threaten,  reward,  pun- 
ish, projecting  himself  into  the  life  and  history  of 
men,  so  far  as  they  were  capable  of  apprehending 
him. 

He  comes  in  the  person  of  his  accredited  messen- 
ger into  the  presence  of  a  high  earthly  mightiness, — 
one  that  had  never  trembled  at  the  presence  of  man, 
that  knows  no  loftier  worship  than  that  of  birds,  and 
beasts,  and  creeping  things,  or  of  the  lifeless  forces  of 
nature.  It  is  the  great  Jehovah  who  speaks,  but 
through  human  lips,  and  in  terms  adapted  to  human 


94  THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

thought :  "  Israel  is  my  son,  even  my  first-born,  and 
I  have  said  unto  thee,  '  Let  my  son  go  that  he  may 
serve  me,'  and  thou  hast  refused  to  let  him  go.  Be- 
hold, I  will  slay  thy  son,  even  thy  first-born."  The 
God  that  so  speaks  is  no  scarahaeus  of  Egyptian 
mythology,  and  the  human  consciousness  of  such 
times  could  not  have  originated  him.  The  message 
bears  his  impress  and  superscription — divine  upon 
its  face — and  Pharaoh  quails  before  it,  and  yields  to 
a  power  greater  than  his  own. 

In  some  way — we  need  not  know  how — God  thrusts^ 
forth  into  our  murky  atmosphere  a  pure  thought  con- 
cerning himself,  to  be  caught  up  and  apprehended  by 
human  faculties  according  to  their  condition  and  ca- 
pacity.    The  form  which  it  exhibits  on  these  historic 
pages  is  principally  the  result  of  human  brainwork, 
the  best  possible  at  the  time.     The  delineation  is  full 
of  life  and  power,  but  to  the  highest  intelligence,  as 
h  educated  by  later  revelation,  while  often  charming  and 
/,  most  attractive,  it  is  sometimes  repellent,  or  even  ut- 
li  terly  intolerable. 

V  Is  it  possible  to  find  relief  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph from  the  thought  of  the  atrocities  practised  in 
taking  possession  of  Canaan,  as  referred  to  in  a  former 
chapter  ?  All  the  inhabitants  of  many  populous  cities 
were  ruthlessly  slain,  and  it  is  stated  that  God  com- 
manded their  utter  extermination.  Imagine  Joshua 
with  the  armies  of  Israel  under  his  control,  charged 
with  an  imperative  divine  commission  to  put  an  end 
to  the  idolatry  of  the  land  throughout  all  its  borders, 
^nd  to  the  shameful  practices  that  defiled  it  as  in  the 


IN  REVELATION.  ^         95 

days  of  Sodom.  The  commission  may  not  have  been 
m  words,  but  in  an  impulse  which  he  recognized  by 
infallible  signs  as  not  emanating  from  his  own  will, 
but  from  the  will  of  God.  Inspired  by  the  most  ex- 
alted zeal  for  tlie  honor  of  Jehovah,  but  with  sensi- 
bilities deadened  by  the  cruel  usages  of  the  warfare  of 
his  time,  may  he  not  have  felt  himself  authorized  and 
impelled  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  consume  the  accursed 
race,  root  and  branch  ?  Confusing  his  own  savage  in- 
stincts with  the  promptings  of  the  true  inspiration— —-j 
within  liijxL^  he  asserted  with  perfect  sincerity  a  divine  Jy/JiX\ 
warrant  and  command. 

It  is  a  conjecture  and  cannot  be  verified.     But  it 
may  lie  upon  the  borders  of  possible  deliverance  from 
the  oppression  we  feel  when  we  read  in  the  Bible  de- 
scriptions so  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  our  Saviour,       ^.^ 
— that  an   impulse  in  its  origin  divine  and  holy  may  ^M*^/^ 
undergo  a  fearful  change  in  its  transition  to  consum-  ^  jU  f^ 
mated  acts.     The  meteorolite,  a  fragment  detached    t^^^j. 
from  a  much  larger  mass  in  its  revolution  around  the   ^y?^,,  7 
sun,  moves  with  inconceivable  swiftness  and  cleaves 
ether  or  space,  invisible  and  noiseless.     But  coming 
within  the  sphere  of  the  earth's  attraction  and  atmos-. 
phere,  it  burns  with  fierce  heat,  and  bursts  asunder'       ^ 
with  terrific  force,  and  with  destruction  to  everythin^i^'^  .^^ 
in  its  way.     So  a  pure  and  righteous  emotion  of  ha-  j  >^ 

tred  to  moral  perversity  breathed  into  the  heart  of  a-,  V.    ^^^ 
man  may  become  fierce,  cruel,  and  implacable.  \sh€vJ<^ 

We  need  not  be  disturbed  if  we  do  not  find  in  the  /w  ia/K»m^ 
earliest  inspiration  the  spirit  and  the  deeds  that  we  '^'^^^^^-W^ 
enjoy  in  this  later  time,  as  walking  in  the  light  of  Jk!^^^^ 
^-'<^^0^  \^ta-»jS*    a^*t«.*^^C-v^  y^^^    Ot'.   kw4^i/^ 


96    THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT  IN  EEVELATION. 

divine  love  incarnate  in  our  Saviour,  witli  the  advan- 
tage it  gives  us  in  all  right  conception  of  things  human 
and  divine.  If  we  should  be  transported  from  our 
present  illumination  into  that  past,  having  what  God 
gave  to  the  men  of  the  time,  and  no  more,  the  con- 
trast would  overwhelm  us,  and  we  should  be  of  all 
men  the  most  miserable. 

But  again,  let  us  not  be  disturbed.  Whatsoever  we 
have  through  divine  grace,  we  shall  have  and  hold 
forever,  with  as  much  more  as  the  God  of  revelation 
will  give  us.  There  is  no  retrograde  evolution  to  be 
apprehended,  no  going  back  from  the  advanced  day- 
dawn  to  the  midnight  shimmer  of  the  stars, — much 
less  to  the  primeval  darkness  of  the  chaotic  world. 

No,  surely  not,  with  a  single  proviso, — unless  in 
moral  perversity  we  make  choice  of  the  evil.  There 
is  a  sad  power  in  will,  even  in  our  poor  human  will — 
a  power  of  retrocession,  of  shutting  off  from  our 
vision  what  we  do  not  wish  to  behold. 

But  barring  that,  we  are  all  right,  and  on  the 
ascending  grade, — from  faith  to  faith,  from  strength 
to  strength,  from  light  to  light,  from  life  to  life, 
from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord. 


XII. 

REVELATION    KEEPING    PACE    WITH 
DEVELOPMENT. 

While  we  are  yet  thinking  of  God  as  revealing 
himself  to  men,  we  must  not  leave  unconsidered  the 
co-ordinate  and  proportional  advance,  as  in  living 
unison,  of  the  principle  and  its  product,  of  the  cause 
and  the  effect.  The  divine  manifestation  and  the 
human  apprehension  move  forward  together  toward  a 
goal  in  the  future, — the  perfected  Christ  of  the  Gos- 
pels, reproduced  in  the  lives  of  men. 

By  a  persistence  of  the  original  energy  a  historic 
revelation  increases  in  clearness  and  efficiency,  and 
this  with  distinct  reference  to  the  growth  of  its  recip- 
ients in  knowledge  and  grace,  growth  ever  stimulating 
growth. 

How  like  this  is  to  the  advance,  from  stage  to  stage, 
and  from  form  to  form,  in  the  sphere  of  nature  since 
the  first  creative  act !  What  name  shall  we  give  to 
the  principle  or  law  that  connects  all  phenomena, 
spiritual  and  physical,  with  other  preceding  phenomena 
in  which  they  apparently,  and  in  some  respects  really, 
originate, — although  not  by  any  causation  that  operates 
independently  of  the  immediate,  immanent  presence 
and    pressure  of    the  divine  will  ?     Thus   carefully 

(97) 


98  REVELATION  KEEPING  PACE 

guarded,  there  is  no  better  term  than  that  which 
modern  science  has  chosen,  and  might  have  caught  up 
from  the  creative  account  in  Genesis,  with  its  hirths 
or  generations  of  successive  typical  forms,  as  ex- 
pressed by  a  familiar  Hebrew  word,  which  always 
ivci^WQ^  parentage.  The  term  evolution^  although  less 
graphic  than  the  Hebrew  conception  5^>^A,  describes 
admirably  the  principle  manifested,  not  only  in  the 
material  universe,  but  in  God's  self-revelation,  in  all 
that  addresses  itself  to  the  mind,  as  including  all 
intellective  and  reasoning  faculties,  in  the  natural 
sphere  ;  and  also  to  the  heart,  the  conscience,  the  will, 
the  affections,  and  all  organs  of  a  highly  spiritual 
nature,  in  the  moral  sphere. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  is  a  believer,  and  ever 
more  intelligently  and  thoroughly  a  believer,  in  a 
divine  principle  of  evolution.  He  sees  it  in  the  wide 
and  varied  outspread  of  nature,  and  in  all  the  activi- 
ties of  natural  law.  For  what  is  natural  law,  but  the 
human  conception  of  divine  and  orderly  action  ?  He 
sees  it,  not  only  in  the  rocks,  with  their  fossil  remains 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  but  in  language,  in  his- 
tory, in  science,  in  religion — in  things  in  the  heavens 
and  things  in  the  earth — above,  beneath,  around, 
everywhere — and  so,  with  the  rest,  in  the  revelation 
of  God  in  the  Bible. 

It  is  Herbert  Spencer's  idea — a  magnificent  gener- 
alization. As  expressed  by  the  philosopher  it  is 
lamentably  deficient,  in  failing  to  recognize  distinctly 
the  omnipotent,  personal  God  immanent  in  nature,  as 
its  animating  and  impelling  energy.     With  this  in- 


WITH  HUMAN  DEV^ELOPMENT.  99 

dispensable  correction,  we  accept  it  in  principle,  with 
whatever  variation  in  details. 

The  living  personal  God  is  the  centre  and  source  of 
all  Hfe,  of  all  organic  development,  of  all  advance  to 
more  perfect  modes  of  existence,  processes,  and  func- 
tions. Nothing  is  out  of  his  reach  and  grasp,  nothing 
too  great  or  too  insignificant  for  the  exercise  of  his 
power.  The  infinite  Spirit  in  his  wise  and  loving 
activities  is  behind  the  scene.  He  that  was,  and  is,  and 
shall  be — o  ifrj^o/ieuo^,  the  coming  one — is  ever  coming 
out  more  manifestly  from  the  depths  of  his  infinite 
nature,  infusing  himself  into,  and  impressing  himself 
upon,  everything  that  through  his  will  exists.  He 
ever  progressively  and  more  distinctly  unfolds  him- 
self before  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  ;  and  so  is  ever 
educating  their  eyes  to  see  more  clearly  whatever,  as 
his  scheme  develops,  he  may  yet  have  to  show  them. 

In  this  moving,  changeful  exposition,  the  grand 
panorama  of  all  that  may  be  known  among  men,  God, 
working  from  within  outwardly,  is  the  Exhibitor, 
wisely  adapting  the  exposition  in  its  breadth  and  con- 
tents to  the  ever-growing  capacity  to  which  it  is  ad- 
dressed. Man,  the  spectator,  as  well  as,  in  his  gener- 
ations, a  principal  component  in  the  exhibition,  ever 
beholding  more  appreciatively,  and  becoming  more 
deeply  interested  in  the  unceasing  progression,  onward 
and  still  onward. 

As  a  consequence,  through  an  inner  divine  impetus 
and  illumination — this  is  psychical  evolution,  one 
grade  higher  in  the  divine  process — he  invents  new 
appliances,  instruments,  scientific  formulae,  and  inde- 


100  REVELATION  KEEPING  PACE 

scribable  methods  for  observing  more  accurately,  more 
profomidly,  deeper  down,  farther  awaj  in  time  and 
space,  in  the  past  and  in  the  future.  He  harnesses  in 
universal  nature  to  bear  triumphantly  forward  the 
royal  chariot  of  knowledge  and  truth. 

Here  come  in  steam,  electricity,  and  what  not, — new 
discoveries  or  developments  of  natural  law.  All  ele- 
ments and  forces  are  utiHzed  progressively  and  expan- 
sively in  subservience  to  the  growth  of  humanity  in 
wisdom. 

Thus  all  human  capacities, — although  many  of  the 
most  efficient  workers  have  not  the  slightest  glimmer- 
ing of  it,  perhaps  professedly  and  boastfully  agnostic, — 
are  evolving,  illustrating,  and  so  magnifying  and 
glorifying  God  more  perfectly.  They  will  understand 
better  hereafter  the  magnificent  proportions  and  sig- 
nificance of  the  work  in  which  they  have  been  en- 
gaged.    Everything  in  its  time. 

It  is  a  pleasant  thought  that  many  an  atheist  is  a 
theist  in  embryo.  He  calls  himself  an  evolutionist 
and  agnostic.  Earnestly  studying  the  great  volume  of 
nature, — and  most  intelligently  in  his  chosen  sphere, 
even  if  blindly  as  respects  what  is  above  him, — he  is 
working  toward  the  light.  He  will  discover  the  grand 
secret  by  and  by,  an  evolutionist  still,  but  an  agnostic 
no  longer. 

Yet  even  a  thoughtful  child,  as  he  beholds  how  the 
world  is  moving  on,  may  give  glory  to  God.  There 
go  the  ships,  packets  and  clippers  of  beautiful  mould, 
flying  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,  coming  like  a 
cloud,  and  like  doves  to  their  lattices,  from  Tarsus  and 


WITH  HUMAN  DEVELOPMENT.  lot 

the  isles  afar  off.  Then,  the  steamers ;  first,  for  tlie 
river,  bringing  the  products  of  toil  from  villages  and 
farms  to  some  seaport ;  next,  for  the  great  ocean, 
moving  swiftly  and  majestically  with  their  enormous 
contents,  distributing  people  and  wealth  in  every  part 
of  the  globe.  Then,  we  have  railways  spanning 
broad  continents,  with  telegraphs,  telephones,  electric 
illumination  and  electric  motors,  inventions  of  every 
sort;  immeasurable  capacity,  ever  pushing  forward, 
forward — who  can  realize  what  triumphs  may  be  cele- 
brated at  the  same  rate  of  advance  within  the  next 
little  century,  though  but  a  tiny  fragment  of  the  vast 
eternity  beyond  ? 

We  shall  speak  more  of  this  further  on,  in  its  bear- 
ing upon  revelation.  We  only  care  now  to  confirm  the 
principle  already  asserted,  that  every  divine  activity 
connected  with  men  and  their  advancement  in  wisdom 
and  righteousness,  and  their  attainment  of  ultimate 
blessedness  in  completed  fellowship  with  God,  is  neces- 
sarily progressive. 

We  shall  delight  in  the  opportunity,  and  it  will 
come  in  due  time,  of  saying  something  about  the  per- 
sonality of  God,  which  modern  philosophy  denies,  as 
necessarily  limiting  an  infinite  nature,  and  therefore 
an  impossible  conception  ;  and  on  the  further  ques- 
tion, how  far  evolution  in  the  domain  of  spirit,  reason, 
and  will,  as  the  substances  upon  which  it  operates, 
corresponds  with  physical  evolution,  and  how  far  we 
may  claim  for  it  in  the  relations  of  Spirit  with  spirit, 
of  Mind  wHtli  mind,  of  Person  with  person,  and  of  Will 
with  will — the  Infinite  with  the  finite — a  hiorher  and 


102  REVELATION  KEEPING  PACE. 

freer  activity  than  that  of  natural  law  in  a  material 
system,  with  special  divine  adaptations  to  changeful 
moral  conditions  and  needs. 

It  may  appear  that  the  accomplished  agnostic, 
whether  scientist,  philosopher,  or  both,  is  true  to  his 
name — that  he  does  not  know  all  about  the  world  of 
thought  to  which  we  are  led  by  questions  like  these. 
Let  him  not  philosophize  here.  By  his  own  definition 
his  sphere  of  knowledge  is  limited  to  conditions  in- 
finitely lower.     "  I^e  sutor  ultra  crepidam,''^ 


XIII. 

THE  EEYELATION  AS  ADDRESSED  TO 

MEK 

In  the  order  of  thought  suggested  in  the  ninth 
chapter,  we  are  next  to  consider  the  nature  and 
needs  of  those  to  whom  the  revelation  is  addressed,  as 
partially  determinative  of  its  principal  characteristics. 

A  flood  of  light  may  be  thrown  upon  the  inspira- 
tion that  has  given  us  such  a  Bible  as  we  have,  in  its 
marvellous  adaptation  to  specific  ends,  if  we  in- 
quire whether  there  is  anything  in  men,  whether 
latent  or  developed,  that  is  appreciatively  responsive 
to  this  divine  condescension,  or  capable  of  becoming 
so.     Otherwise,  it  is  casting  pearls  before  swine. 

The  question  is  not  sufficiently  answered  by  a  ref- 
erence to  intelligence  and  reason.  For  these  faculties, 
exalted  as  they  are,  cannot  apprehend  the  higher  re- 
alities exhibited  in  this  Holy  Book,  except  under  a 
broader  definition  than  is  usually  attached  to  them. 
With  whatever  undeveloped  capacity  for  such  knowl- 
edge our  nature  was  originally  endowed,  it  is  now  dor- 
mant and  inoperative. 

What  if  we  put  together  several  sentences  from  the 
New  Testament  that  bear  upon  the  question.  Take 
one  from  our  Saviour's  Sermon  on  the  Mount :    "  If 

(103) 


J  04  THE  REVELATION 

thine  eye  be  evil,  tliy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of 
darkness ;  if  then  the  light  that  is  in  thee  be  dark- 
ness, how  great  is  that  darkness."  Another  is  from 
the  Gospel  of  John  :  "  In  him  was  life,  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men.  And  the  light  shineth  in 
darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehendeth  it  not." 
A  third  is  from  the  pen  of  the  apostle  to  the  Gen- 
tiles :  "  For  the  natural  (Gr.  psychical)  man  receiveth 
not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he 
know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  (Gr.  jpneu- 
matically^  i.e.,  through  thepneuma)  discerned." 

Lest  it  should  seem  to  some  readers  that  these  cita- 
tions are  misconceived  in  the  interests  of  a  too  rigid 
orthodoxy,  something  may  be  added  from  the  un- 
orthodox pen  of  a  leading  English  Unitarian.  He  has 
recently  been  branded  a  rationaHst.  But  surely  in 
the  following  language  he  assigns  the  right  place  to 
the  intellect,  the  pure  reason,  apart  from  the  moral 
sensibilities.  It  would  be  impossible  to  make  selec- 
tions more  satisfactory  from  the  most  orthodox  theo- 
logian :  "  The  intellect  alone,  like  the  telescope  waiting 
for  an  observer,  is  quite  blind  to  the  celestial  things 
above  it, — a  dead  mechanism  dipped  in  night, — ready 
to  serve  as  the  dioptric  glass,  spreading  the  images  of 
light  from  the  Infinite  upon  the  tender  and  living 
retina  of  the  conscience."  * 

Every  word  of  this  further  quotation  should  be 
carefully  noted.  It  occurs  just  after  the  above : 
"  In  the  conscience  and  moral  affections  we  have  our 


*  Prof.  James  Martineau's  "Studies  of  Christianity,"  p.  187. 


AS  ADDRESSED  TO  MEN.  105 

only  revealers  of  God.  Let  it  be  understood  that  I 
me.in,  our  only  internal  revealers  of  him ;  the  only 
faculty  of  our  being  capable  of  furnishing  us  with 
the  idea  and  belief  of  him,  with  any  perception  of 
his  character,  and  allegiance  to  his  will.  AVe  mean 
to  state  that  without  this  faculty,  the  bare  intellect, 
the  mere  scientific  and  reasoning  power,  could  make 
no  way  toward  the  knowledge  of  divine  realities, 
could  never,  by  any  system  of  helps  whatsoever,  be 
trained  or  guided  into  this  knowledge,  any  more  than 
in  the  absence  of  the  proper  sense  the  ear  of  the 
blind  could  be  taught  to  see ;  and  that  nature,  life, 
history,  miracle,  notwithstanding  their  most  sedulous 
discipline,  would  leave  us  utterly  in  the  dark  about 
religion,  except  as  they  addressed  themselves  to  our 
consciousness  of  what  is  holy,  just,  beautiful,  and 
great. 

"  But  we  do  7iot  mean  that  the  moral  sense  can  stand 
alone,  dispense  with  all  outward  instruction,  and  sup- 
ply a  man  with  a  natural  religion  ready  made.  Nor 
do  we  mean  that  the  every-day  experience,  and  the 
ordinary  providence  of  God,  are  enough,  without 
special  revelation,  to  lead  us  to  heavenly  truth. 

"  And  we  are  therefore  prepared  to  advance  another 
step,  and  to  say,  that  while  we  regard  conscience  as 
the  only  imoard  revealer,  we  have  faith  in  Christ, 
as  his  perfect  and  transcendent  outward  revelation. '^^ 

Let  these  last  words  be  especially  remarked.  This 
so-called  rationalist  leads  us  directly  to  the  historic 
Christ— the  Christ  orHie  Gospels— as  the  ultiniate 
source  of  authority  in   religion.      He  exalts  him  as 


106  THE  REVELATION 

supreme  Lord  over  every  divinely  imparted  faculty 
in  our  nature,  the  moral  and  spiritual,  as  well  as  the 
simply  intellectual,  however  perfect  their  development 
and  culture.  He  makes  him  the  illuminator  of  con- 
science, without  whose  revelation  of  God  its  light  is 
comparatively  darkness. 

Martineau  is  the  most  metaphysical  of  religionists. 
His  metaphysics  have  controlled  his  modes  of  thought 
and  tinctured  his  theology.  This  appears  in  his  denial 
of  the  proper  Deity  of  Christ,  and  at  many  other 
points.  This  is  a  great  pity,  but  not  personally  fatal. 
Disordered  metaphysics  are  deplorable,  but  will  not 
exclude  him  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  For  in 
his  heart  of  hearts  he  adores  Christ  Sis^'^the  most 
perfect  and  transcendent  outward  revelation  of  God^'^ 
and  the  voice  of  Christ,  as  it  addresses  him  from  the 
written  revelation  of  the  Bible,  commands  his  deepest 
homage  as  the  voice  of  God,  the  supreme  authority 
to  which  every  faculty  of  his  nature  lovingly  and 
trustfully  submits. 

It  is  evident  from  the  preceding  extracts  that  Pro- 
fessor Martineau's  psychology  corresponds  with  that 
of  the  Bible.  Its  facts  are  of  immense  importance  in 
our  search.  It  is  enough  for  the  present  that  this 
psychology  recognizes  in  man,  not  only  a  rational,  in- 
tellective principle,  called  soul^  but  a  sjpirit  nature  of 
higher  function  and  capacities,  able  to  hold  converse 
with  God. 

The  presence  of  these  elements  in  his  being  is  rec- 
ognized in  the  Biblical  account  of  the  creation,  espe- 
cially in  his  inspiration  by  the  divine  breath,  which 


AS  ADDRESSED  TO  MEN.  107 

distinguislied  Adam  from  other  living  creatm*es  upon 
tlie  earth.     Yet  it  is  easy  to  fall  into  the  error  of  at- 
tributing high  perfection  to  the  divine  principle  that    n 
exalted  him,  and  consequently  a  higher  intelligence |'sk^    '  * 
and  culture  to  his  condition,  than  is  anywhere  de- i  u-U-—- 
scribed  in  the  Bible.     It  is  the  impression  conveyed  '       ^>f 
by  most  statements  upon  the  subject  in  our  Confes- 
sions and  theological  systems. 

Deistical  writers  have  used  this  assumption  in  de- 
crying the  BibHcal  account,  ever  since  Lord  Kames 
took  the  lead  more  than  a  century  ago  in  his 
"  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man."  But  especially 
since  the  principle  of  evolution  has  gained  scientific  . 
establishment,  it  is  claimed  boldly  that  man's  fall  from 
the  highest  perfection  in  Adam,  supposed  to  be  taught 
in  the  Scriptures,  reverses  the  true  fact. 

The  "  New  Theology,"  sometimes  called  Progress- 
ive Theology,  that  has  recently  loomed  up,  proclaims 
the  story  of  Adam  a  raytli^  to  be  classed  with  the 
vague  and  preposterous  traditions  that  are  found  in 
the  prehistoric  literature  of  various  nations  of  antiq- 
uity. The  grounds  of  this  judgment  seem  to  lie 
partly  in  a  dislike  to  the  doctrine  of  the  imputation 
of  Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity,  especially  in  the  arbi-  • 
trary  nominalistic  conception  which  some  eminent 
dogmaticians  find  in  the  Westminster  Catechism,  and 
partly,  or  even  more,  in  the  apparent  iinpossibility  of 
reconciling  the  account  in  Genesis  with  an  evolution 
in  man,  and  in  everything  pertaining  to  his  sphere  of 
being,  of  an  ascent  from  lower  to  higher,  from  germi- 1 
nal  to  mature,  from  savagery  to  civilization,  presum- 


108  THE  REVELATION 

ablj  to  end  in  perfection,  but  beginning  with  the  life 
of  the  beast. 

As  for  the  former  of  these  reasons  for  disparaging 
Adam,  we  may  retain  our  belief  that  he  is  a  veritable 
historic  personage,  yet  easily  free  ourselves  from  all 
metaphysical  entanglements  connected  with  the  impu- '- ' 
tation  of  his  sin,  by  statements  that  would  be  out  of 
place  here. 

With  reference  to  evolution,  while  we  need  Adam 
as  embodying  the  race-idea  so  important  in  Biblical 
Theology,  we  also  need  him — the  very  Adam  de- 
scribed in  Genesis — as  the  beginning  of  evolution 
in  man  in  his  marvellous  history  under  the  divine 
formative     energy,    which    it    is     rightly    claimed, 

I  whether  by  infidel  or  progressive  Christian,  began  very 

flow. 

I'     The  idea  of  a  highly  developed  perfection  in  Adam- 

I  is  an  assumption  not  warranted  by  the  record.  It  has 
been  singularly  misread.  We  may  not  like  to  call 
him  a  savage,  but  certainly  he  was  not  civilized. 
His  life  must  have  been  the  most  primitive  and  sim- ) 
plest  imaginable.  What  distinguished  him  from  the 
brutes  around  was  some  quality,  attribute,  or  function 
called  likeness  to  God,  and  produced  by  the  divine 
breath  animating  the  material  structure. 

The  basis  of  this  divine  likeness,  like  the  canvas  of 
the  painter  or  the  marble  on  which  the  sculptor  exe- 
cutes his  beautiful  conceptions,  is  the  self-conscious 
personal  intelligence  called  soxil, — of  which  we  have 
already  spoken  as  finding  its  appropriate  sphere  in 
material  things, — in  living  union  with  the  higher  moral 


^i  .         AS  ADDRESSED  TO  MEN.  109   . 


A>^»o^-v.  :        S^/^/  V   c^on    ^  ^ 


capacity  called  spirit,  which  absorbs  and  reflects  the 
beauty  of  God's  moral  perfections. 

A  grand  nature  truly,  if  it  may  ever  attain  its 
growth.  No  doubt  under  favorable  conditions  it 
might  have  been  rapidly  developed,  both  in  soul  and 
spirit--or  more  intelligibly  to  many  persons,  and  with 
sufficient  accuracy,  both  in  mind  and  heart — into  a 
glorious  perfection. 

But  at  first  the  higher  principle  was  a  mere  breath, 
an  impartation  of  divine  life,  but  in  weakness  and  not 
in  power.  One  not  aware  of  its  exalted  origin  and 
immortal  nature  might  suppose  it  would  immediately 
expire,  like  a  breath  of  man.  Everything  indicates 
j  that  it  was  the  feeblest  conceivable  entity,  germinal 
and  infantile.  It  was  of  so  delicate  quality  that  any  ^ 
willing  contact  with  sin  must  blight  it,  its  beauty  and 
glory  must  disappear,  and  man  immediately  becomes 
a  savage,  probably  of  lower  order  than  anything  that 
we  know  by  that  name  in  this  advanced  stage  of  the 
world's  history. 

Adam  was  remarkable,  not  so  much  for  what  he 
I   was,  as  for  what  was  possible  to  his  nature ;  and  he 
i    transmitted  to  the  race  all  the  rudimentary  undevel- 
'    oped  potencies  of  that  nature,  embryonic,  blighted, 
and  ineffective,  except  by  a  fresh  infusion  of  spiritual 
life  and  vigor  from  the  original  source.    Nevertheless, 
the  bestowinent  was  most  precious  as  distinguishing 
him  from  the  beast,  and  securing  to  him  a  grand  fu- 
ture whenever  God's  time  shall  come. 

Let  us  not  think  of  this  story  as  a  myth.  It  is  a 
heathenish  word  that  classes  this  invaluable  Scripture 


110  THE  REVELATION 

account  with  "  profane  and  old  wives'  fables "  (Gr. 
myths)  in  the  only  New  Testament  passages  in  which 

I  myths  are  mentioned.*     We  must  know  this  Adam, 

I  whether  inspired  parable,  or  literal  historic  fact,  if  we 
would  know  ourselves — where  we  stand  and  what  we 
may  hope  for — and  achieve  a  glorious  future  through 
the  principles  that  underlie  this  realistic  narrative. 

If  ever  there  was  a  radiant  inspiration  elsewhere 
than  in  the  Lord's  Anointed,  who  in  important  re- 
spects was  the  counterpart  of  the  Adam  of  Eden,  it  is 
here.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  in  the  progressive  the- 
ology of  the  writer's  maturing  life,  the  account  of 
the  creation  and  fall  of  Adam,  referred  to  so  slight- 
ingly by  later  progressives,  has  been  an  illumination 
that  sheds  its  lustre  down  the  whole  history  of  re- 

,  demption.  It  shows  what  man  originally  was,  at  least 
germinally  and  potentially,  what  he  became  through 
the  blight  of  separation  from  God,  and  what  must  be 
done  for  him  by  divine  grace,  if  he  is  ever  to  attain 

'  his  full  stature. 

Personally  we  are  content  to  receive  the  description 
as  a  detail  of  literal  transactions.  Yet  we  do  not  care 
to  press  it  in  extreme  literalness  upon  others.  Let 
"  the  dust "  of  which  Adam  was  made,  stand  for  any 
crude,  inorganic  matter,  from  which, — directly  or  in- 
directly, whether  through  a  long  series  of  animal  trans- 
formations beginning  at  the  lowest,  or  by  an  immedi- 
ate creative  act, — his  body  was  produced. 
^K        i.  Here,  for  aught  we  know  to  the  contrary,  may  be- 

^^  *  1  Tim.  i.  4;  1  Tim.  iv.  7,  3  Tim.  iv.  4;  Tit.  i.  14;  2  Pet.  i.  16. 


AS  ADDRESSED  TO  MEN.  m 

long  '*  the  men  of  the  drift,"  the  "  cave-dwellers,"  and 
their  like,  the  slayers  of  the  mammoth  and  the  masto- 
don and  other  monstrosities  of  the  primeval  world,  the 
'  missing  link '  between  the  race  of  Adam  and  all 
lower  animal  types,  men  in  structure  and  in  modes  of 
activity  and  life,  but  without  the  divine  breath,  and 
hence  without  spiritual  perception,  moral  responsibil- 
ity, or  immortal  existence,  and  swept  away  by  con- 
vulsions in  the  frame  of  nature.  There  is  wide  room 
for  unrecorded  development  in  the  sentence  that  de- 
scribes the  creation  of  our  progenitor.  Compression 
in  time,  with  description  of  long  processes  as  moment- 
ary, is  characteristic  of  the  whole  narrative. 

As  for  other  items  in  the  account,  let  "  the  hreath 
of  life^^  as  breathed  into  him  by  the  Creator,  be  ad- 
mitted an  anthropomorphism,  the  most  expressive 
exponent  and  symbol  of  the  highest  life  as  divinely 
imparted.  It  surely  can  be  nothing  more,  and  nothing 
less.  Let  the  prohibitive  ordinance,  "  Thou  shall  not 
eat  of  it^''  represent  tropically  some  very  simple  and 
reasonable  restraint  upon  sensual  appetite  by  which 
the  nature  could  be  tested  and  strengthened,  and  as- 
sume for  ^Hhe  serpenV  any  supposable  seductive 
agency  from  without. 

What  myth  of  any  nation  presents  features  of 
ethical  probability  to  be  compared  with  this  \  If  one 
choose  to  think  of  it  as  idealized  fact,  of  the  nature  of 
parable,  allegory,  or  symbolic  statement,  as  essential 
history  in  a  figurative  dress,  as  object-teaching  in 
which  great  ethical  realities  are  exhibited  in  imagina- 
tive form,  it  is  all  we  have  occasion  for.     It  is  a  story 


112  THE  REVELATION 

surcharged  and  redolent  with  the  highest  inspiration. 
We  have  very  Httle  respect  for  the  sagacity  that  can 
see  in  it  only  a  myth,  in  a  line  with  tlie  confused, 
monstrous,  and  unmeaning  legends  of  heathenism. 

But  now,  in  connection  with  the  revelation  of  truth 
relating  to  the  higher  life,  especially  as  embracing  a 
more  perfect  knowledge  of  God,  profound  problems 
are  reaching  the  surface  ;  what  was  hidden  in  darkness 
comes  up  from  unfathomable  depths.     We  are  learn- 
ing why  all  revelation  of  the  deep  things  of  God  was 
normally  gradual,  progressive,  shining  more  and  more 
to  the  full-orbed  noonday.     God  here,  as  everywhere, 
works   from  within  in  steadfast  advance  toward  an 
ideal,  not  only  in  the  outer  world,  but  in  man,  his 
living  image.     It  all  leads  to  a  bright  outshining  in 
the  far-away  future. 
f'      We  shall  claim  more  distinctly  by  and  by,  that  the 
production  of  a  perfect  MiTnanity,  at  first  in  an  in- 
dividual, and  afterward  through  him  in  the  race — the 
\  '^<.i  development  of  the  latent  potencies  in  Adam,  in  spite 
^Ltu/,*A#|J  of  all  opposition  of  evil  from  whatever  source, — is  the 
^^**^^y  ruling  purpose  of  the  whole  revelation,  and  gives 
uMxixiA^^ ,  character  and  method  to  the  inspiration  that  produced 
it.      Let  this  be  remembered.     It  is  worthy  to  be 
amplified  in  its  place. 

Man  was  made  by  God  of  "  the  dust  of  the  earth," 

however  remotely  in  relation  to  the  crowning  act,  and 

^  ^  ^''    was  endowed  as  we  have  seen  with  a  nobler  life  than 

"*"*      any  upon  the  earth  before  him,  but  he  was  made  to 

grow.     Not  only  the  individual  man  Adam,  as  the 

type  generic  of  every  individual  man,  but  the  nature 


AS  ADDRESSED  TO  MEN.  113 

as  the  concrete  product  of  an  expansive  living  force 
within,  was  made  to  grow. 

Eveu  the  higher  principle  within  him  was  originally  lyL/^  ^"^^ 
evolved — tlirough  evolution  of  superior  sort  to  that  of  f;    ^'^  ' '"■' 
things  physical  and  material,  and  of  natural  law — a 
living  person  from  a  living  personal  God.     And  the  ^■^'■^'^^***^^ 
inner  connection   between   the  originating  and   the 
originated  nature, — the  link  of  life,  and  grow^th,  and 
power, — has  never  been  severed.     It  holds  \vithin  it 
the  principle  of  immortality,  of  moral  purity,  and  of 
all  high  excellence,  if  by  any  means  in  the  power  of 
God  its  normal  condition  can  be  restored. 

There  was  a  loss,  a  fall,  a  sad  deterioration,  prob-  ,  ^ao^  y-^"^ 
ably  almost  immediate,  and  it  resulted  in  injury  ap-  /oj>Xa 
parently  irreparable.     The  higher  principle,  the  moral  '^^  lu- 
faculty,  the  capacity  for  fellowship  with  God,  which    •  ' 
it  seemed  must  secure  to  him  rapid  progress  and  com- 
plete development,  was  miserably  blighted.    Progress         •  >.   ~ 
in  the  higher  direction  was  arrested,  and  unless  infinite  r*-*^^  • 
wisdom  should  exhibit  some  new  method,  arrested  for 
all  time.  —  ' 

It  is  in  accordance  with  all  analogies  in  moral  reno- 
vation by  fresh  communication  of  truth,  that  if  man 
is  thus  restored,  the  renovating  truth  must  first  be 
grasped,  at  least  in  the  signification  of  the  language 
in  which  it  is  conveyed,  by  his  intellectual  and  ra- 
tional faculties,  as  a  medium  of  communication  with 
the  inner  and  higher  life.  Each  principal  element  in 
his  supra-bestial  organism  has  its  own  capacity  for 
growth,  and  under  divine  tuition  will  be  cared  for  in 
accordance  with  its  nature  and  laws.     The  spiritual, 


A/f- 


114  THE  REVELATION. 

or  more  divine  of  the  two,  has  not  become  extinct. 
Kew  life  from  the  original  source  may  and  shall  be 
infused. 
^(J^^   ^  But  the  growth  of  soul,  the  exterior,  and  of  spirit, 

J.,y\\  the  interior  capacity  for  receiving  fresh  truth,  must 
ordinarily  be  proportional  and  symmetrical.  As  it  was 
said  by  ancient  scientists,  "  Nature  abhors  a  vacuum," 
we  Theists  may  say  more  correctly,  God  abhors  the 
abnormal  and  unshapely. 
'  What  we  call,  speaking  humanly,  a  law  of  nature, 
describes  the  unfettered  and  intelligent  course  of  in- 
finite wisdom — the  soul  and  spirit  of  creation,  and  as 
well,  of  the  providential  government  of  the  world,  in- 
cluding its  moral  transformation.  One  of  the  so- 
called  laws  secures  the  parallel  and  co-ordinate  devel- 
opment of  the  several  capacities  of  the  complex  hu- 
manity, which  he  will  not  abandon. 

We  need  these  statements  here  in  laying  down  first 
principles  on  which  all  progress  in  knowledge  and 
goodness  must  depend,  in  direct  connection  with  the 
creation  of  the  first  man.  We  shall  need  them  more 
as  we  advance,  and  shall  refer  to  them  again. 


Q^ 


XIY. 
HOPE  LONG  DEFEREED. 

Are  we  not  approaching  in  the  foregoing  statement  ""^^^^.r^ 
the  probable  explanation  of  the  long  delay  in  the  pro-  Cvr<«^ 
duction  upon  the  earth  of  the  ideally  perfect  man,  the  <^"i  /^^'^^^ 
see^d^f  the  woman  and  the  Son  of  God?  "^         rv  V*^ 

There  has  been  much  wondering  over  the  y^^  jyZTC-^^i 
tracted  postponement  of  God's  gracious  purpose  to-  {  If^ 
ward  the  world  in  the  final  and  perfect  revelation.  ^^  /v^  tU 
Everything  moved  so  slowly.  Generations,  centuries,  ^^^^  ^2lf 
decades  of  centuries  passed  away,  kingdoms  rose  and      '  * 

fell,  religions  and  philosophies  appeared,  culminated,  "^^ 
and  collapsed,  yet  the  promise  still  waited.  ^^^r^ 

We  are  told  that  "the  fulness  of  time"  must  first    i    y  * 
come.     Some  indispensable  but  undefined  preparation        ; 
must  be  completed.     Meanwhile,  how  frequently  the 
entire  population  of  the  earth  was  changed.     Myriads 
of  millions  passed  off  into  eternity  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God  or  the  hope  of  immortality. 

The  thought  is  painful  beyond  conception — one 
under  which  nothing  but  the  strongest  confidence  in 
the  almighty,  alUvise,  and  all-merciful  rule  of  a  di- 
vine will  can  steady  our  reeling  souls — that  so  many 
generations  had  to  perish  in  darkness.  It  could  not 
have  been  an  arbitrary  exhibition  of  sovereignty  on 

(115) 


116  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

the  part  of  the  great  Supreme.  Why  could  not  the 
promised  deliverer,  the  "  Hope  of  Israel,"  have  ap- 
peared at  the  farthest  a  century  or  two  after  man's 
ruin,  revealing  the  highest  heavenly  truth  that  greets 
our  hearts  in  the  New  Testament,  and  bringing  life 
and  immortality  to  light  ? 

The  best  work  on  progressive  revelation,  especially 
in  its  bearing  upon  the  point  now  under  consideration, 
is  Canon  Mozley's  "  Ruling  Ideas  in  Early  Ages,  and 
their  Relation  to  Old  Testament  Faith."  We  give 
the  scope  of  the  book  with  great  freedom  in  the  fol- 
lowing sentences,  leaving  it  for  subsequent  considera- 
tion to  what  extent  and  in  what  way,  if  at  all,  its  lead- 
ing thought  needs  to  be  modified  or  supplemented  in 
its  relation  to  New  Testament  revelation  and  faith : 
A  religion  from  God,  embodying  the  highest  concep- 
tions, and  opening  up  before  men  a  glorious  future  of 
knowledge,  purity,  love,  and  blessedness  in  divine  fel- 
lowship, must  be  revealed  progressively^  If  it  had 
been  at  once  proclaimed  in  its  higher  and  purer  form, 
men  in  their  moral  darkness  and  degradation  could 
not  have  received  it.  It  must  come  to  them  through 
their  own  moral  atmosphere,  and  modified  by  its  ob- 
structions, misapprehensions,  and  confusion  on  all 
ethical  questions.  It  could  only  be  apprehended 
gradually,  as  accommodated  to  the  prepossessions 
which  must  for  an  indefinite  time  shut  out  the  per- 
fected and  absolute  truth  and  right.  So  modified, 
it  might  by  degrees  effect  a  moral  transformation, 
rectify  unworthy  conceptions  of  God,  elevate  the 
ethical  standard,  and  lift  the  race  to  a  higher  plane. 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  117 

From  this  vantage  ground  a  fresh  revelation  of  the 
justice,  holiness,  and  love  of  God  as  crystallized  in  a 
perfect  man,  the  representative  head  of  redeemed  hu- 
manity, could  be  apprehended,  appreciated,  embraced, 
and  absorbed,  and  thus  the  whole  mass  should  be 
changed  into  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  in  all 
moral  perfections. 

The  view  contemplates  the  certainty  in  an  earlier 
revelation  of  an  admixture  of  the  true  and  the  false, 
the  divine  conception  tarnished  or  discolored  by  the 
imperfect  medium  through  which  it  must  reach  the 
hearts  of  men.  Canon  Mozley  exhibits  the  facts  on 
which  his  statements  are  based  at  some  length,  proving 
conclusively  that  he  is  not  dealing  in  vain  specula- 
tions, or  in  fancies  that  can  never  be  realized. 

In  successive  chapters  he  takes  up  some  of  the 
principal  examples  that  occur  in  the  Old  Testament 
of  divine  commands  that  are  not  in  harmony  with  the 
New  Testament  standard  of  right  and  wrong.  After 
a  lecture  upon  Abraham,  as  introducing  a  new  and 
pure  religion,  he  treats  in  several  lectures  of  the  com- 
manded sacrifice  of  Isaac, — of  exterminating  wars  as 
ordered  by  God, — of  the  visitation  of  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children, — of  the  killing  of  Sisera  by 
Jael,  and  the  treachery  of  her  act, — of  the  law  of  re- 
taliation, and  under  it,  of  the  justice  executed  by  "  the 
avenger  of  blood." 

He  shows  that  in  all  these  there  is  a  temporary  ac- 
commodation in  matters  of  justice,  love,  and  truth  to 
the  infirmities  of  men,  and  that  this  has  its  origin 
in  the  condescension  of  God  in  becoming  the  Guide 


118  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

and  Instructor  of  a  people  whose  moral  apprehensions 
were  imperfect,  although  thej  were  not  without  a 
confused  sense  of  religious  obligation,  righteousness, 
and  truth. 

Canon  Mozlej  does  not  distinctly  raise  the  question 
whether  in  the  nature  of  things  and  absolutely  the  slow 
progress  was  unavoidable, — whether  by  a  new  exercise 
of  creative  power,  an  omnipotent   reconstruction  of 
man's  moral  nature,  God  might  not  at  once  have  lifted 
him  to  a  higher  level,  from  which  the  most  perfect  truth 
and  right  could  have  been  clearly  and  correctly  dis- 
cerned.    It  is  enough  that  the  great  Ruler  of  all  chose 
to  act  in  accordance  with  the  established  analogies  of 
creation  and  providence,  in  which  time  is  of  small  mo- 
ment, and  from  which  haste  is  banished  as  an  element  of 
^       ,  ■       weakness.    He  preferred  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons 
Ay^      to  accomplish  his  gracious  purpose  by  moral  methods, 
t  t^exhibiting  his  infinite  wisdom  in  multitudinous  details. 
^^  /T^K.  -       So  we  might  infer  that  he  would  have  done  from 
4  I  all  past  records  in  the  kingdom  of  nature.     He  would 

t^o^  exhibit  his  grace  in  righting  all  wrong  and  expelling 

Xv^  ^      all  evil,  but  there  should  be  no  rude  shock,  throwing 
5^A^S  ^     the  race  off  its  balance  by  a  sudden  revolution  in  all 
-/  fw*.  .  accepted  ethical  notions.     The  truth  should  win  its 
■xi  1^*  ,    way,  and  achieve  supremacy  over  the  hearts  and  lives 
^^jj^'     of  men  in  its  purest  form,  by  entering  gradually  into 
'^^^l^'tTie  current  of  human  thought  and  practice.     Thus  by 
^'<'  f  H^  degrees,  but  surely,  it  must  eliminate  the  elements  of 
'  A  ^^ weakness  and  obscurity  embedded  in  the  nature  of 
'    -*'      ■  those  with  whom  God  is  now  graciously  dealing. 
-  -  The  following  analysis  of^  Canon  Mozley's  Tenth 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  119 

Lecture,  "The  end,  the  test  of  a  progressive  revela- 
tion," as  given  in  the  Table  of  Contents,  is  most  sug- 
gestive :  "  Answers  to  objectors  to  the  foregoing  argu- 
ment— A  progressive  revelation  may  make  use  of  im- 
perfect moral  material — It  looked  forward — An  in- 
ward mind  in  the  system  taught  ex  cathedra — The 
prophets — The  end  shows  the  design  of  the  system — 
While  accommodating  itself  to  defective  ideas,  it  was 
eradicating  them — No  system  of  philosophy  taught  the 
rights  of  man — The  Bible  the  charter  of  man's  rights — 
Ancient  empires  flourished  on  the  insignificance  of  man 
— The  vast  body  of  philosophy  and  poetry  formed  by 
the  Bible — Pascal — Great  body  of  infidel  literature 
formed  on  the  same  idea — Shelley — The  communion 
of  man  with  God  affected  the  relation  of  man  with 
man — The  law  thus  contained  the  secret  of  his  elevation 
— History  shows  the  law  to  have  been  above  the*  nation 
— The  nation  was  terrified  into  a  formal  obedience — 
The  enforcement  of  law  the  task  of  one  generation, 
its  fruits  of  another — A  progressive  revelation  must 
be  judged  by  its  end — Higher  minds  outgrew  the  law 
of  their  dispensation — Other  nations  stopped  short — 
In  the  Jewish  nation  alone  the  law  acted  as  a  guide — 
The  great  prophetic  order — The  objector  asks,  AVhy 
should  divine  revelation  be  subject  to  conditions? — 
The  human  will,  its  capacity  of  resistance — The  whole 
question  belongs  to  the  fundamental  difticulty  of  rec- 
onciling God's  power  with  man's  free  will — Miracles 
— Temporary  morals  only  a  scaffolding." 

It  cannot  be  questioned  that  Canon   Mozley  has 
rendered  important  service  to  Biblical  Theology  in 


120  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

accounting  for  acts  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  exhibit  a  low  standard  of  morality,  yet  seem 
to  bear  the  seal  of  divine  approval.  In  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  our  Saviour  strongly  empha- 
sizes the  contrast  between  the  principles  of  the 
Mosaic  legislation,  and  those  that  emanate  from  his 
own  higher  authority :  "  It  was  said  to  you  by  them 
of  old  time,  '  An  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a 
tooth ';  but  I  say  unto  you.  Love  your  enemies,  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that 
despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you."  Elsewhere 
our  Saviour  speaks  of  a  law  of  Moses  as  not  such  a 
genuine  and  perfect  expression  of  the  will  of  God  as 
would  have  been  given  to  people  more  susceptible  to 
right  impressions :  "  For  the  hardness  of  your  heart 
Moses  gave  you  this  precept." 

With  this  supreme  endorsement  in  our  mind  we  are 
not  disturbed  if  any  one  should  declare  that  some  of 
the  statutes  in  this  ancient  revelation  would  disgrace  any 
modern  system  of  laws.  So  it  is  set  down  in  the  "  Mis- 
takes of  Moses."  We  may  fitly  and  fearlessly  admit 
this.  There  is  no  better  way  of  depriving  such  sallies 
of  rampant  and  indiscriminate  infidelity  of  their  power 
to  hurt  than  by  candid  assent.  For  one  greater  than 
Moses  has  confirmed  the  assertion  by  finding  in  that 
law  as  a  ruling  principle,  condescension  to  human  in- 
firmity. 

Barbaric  ideas  were  too  thoroughly  rooted  in  the 
thought  and  practice  of  those  barbaric  ages  to  yield 
even  to  the  injunctions  of  a  divine  Lawgiver.  Cut 
they  might  in  his  infinite  wisdom  be  tolerated  for  a 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  121 

time  in  connection  with  a  revelation  whose  liigher 
elements  were  illuminative  and  regenerative.  For 
thus,  with  some  temporary  permission  of  evil,  the 
way  might  be  prepared  for  that  highest  truth  before 
which  the  whole  mass  of  barbarism  and  heathenism 
should  be  swept  from  the  earth. 

The  deficiency  in  Canon  Mozley's  treatment  of  the 
subject  may  be  sharply  illustrated  by  a  personal  inci- 
dent. Several  years  ago,  while  spending  a  Sabbath 
in  the  forest,  the  writer  of  these  sentences  passed  over 
the  volume  to  a  friend,  without  remark  about  its  con- 
tents, but  with  a  specific  purpose.  He  was  a  man  of 
mature,  penetrative,  and  judicial  mind,  accustomed  to 
weigh  evidence,  expose  legal  sophistries,  and  pro- 
nounce determinatively  upon  abstruse  subjects ;  one 
not  prepossessed  by  any  theological  system,  and  al- 
ways ready  to  deal  with  commonly  received  opinions 
in  an  independent  way.  He  returned  it  in  an  hour, 
with  the  quiet  question,  "  Is  not  that  view  fatal  to  the  jL 
scheme  of  modern  Christian  missions?"  The  reply  ' 
was  equally  quiet,  simply  expressing  a  different  opin- 
ion, and  the  subject  was  dropped  without  discussion. 

The  question  was  shrewd,  and  touched  a  vital  point. 
It  seemed  to  have  been  seized  with  some  avidity,  not 
as  against  Canon  Mozley's  argument,  but  as  against 
the  hopefulness  of  taking  the  advanced  truth  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  more  benighted  regions  of  heathendom. 
There  are  tribes  now  upon  the  earth  that  are  supposed 
to  be  as  ignorant  and  debased  as  the  old  Canaanites. 
On  what  ground  can  we  discriminate?  Why  must 
we  not  go  back  to  the  old  system,  beginning  with  the 


122  HOPE  LONG  DEFEEBED. 

sacrifice  of  beasts  as  the  mode  of  worship,  and  lower- 
ing our  moral  instruction  wherever  we  find  it  neces- 
sary, in  accommodation  to  their  savagery  and  barbar- 
ism ?  The  inference  from  the  ruling  principle  of  the 
book  as  we  have  stated  it,  was  not  illegitimate. 

The  author  concentrated  his  thought  rigidly  and 
too  exclusively  upon  his  principal  topic,  and  does  not 
seem  to  have  connected  it  very  distinctly  in  his  own 
mind  with  the  possibilities  or  the  facts  of  the  far-away 
future.  He  proceeded  upon  the  assumptioi)  that  in 
dealing  with  deep  moral  debasement  there  were,  im- 
perative and  controlling  reasons  for  adopting  this  pro- 
tracted educational  process,  and  that  no  other  could 
have  been  effective.  He  does  not  ask  whether  it  suc- 
ceeded or  failed,  whether  the  remote  descendants  of 
those  favored  with  the  earlier  revelation  advanced  so 
far  in  knowledge  and  subjection  to  the  divine  will, 
that  when  fuller  illumination  visited  the  world,  they 
absorbed  it  joyfully,  and  became  the  loving  and  obe- 
dient sons  and  daughters  of  the  living  God.  He 
seems  to  take  it  for  granted  that  such  must  have  been 
the  issue,  or  that  in  some  unexplained  way  it  extended 
to  the  whole  body  of  mankind.  Nothing  can  be 
clearer  than  that  this  was  contrary  to  fact. 

Neither  does  Canon  Mozley  ask  whether  the  ever- 
energetic  wisdom  and  grace  of  God  might  not  in  the 
future  evolve  a  more  penetrative,  potent,  and  effective 
agency,  which  should  supersede  the  superficial  and  im- 
perfect methods  that  alone  were  possible  at  first, — that 
should  illumine,  regenerate,  develop,  and  transform 
the  most  degraded  and  morally  obtuse, — that  by  work- 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  123 

iiig  subjectively  and  ah  intra^  should  attain  results  by 
rapid  progress  wbicli  under  tlie  previous  system  had  not 
been  realized  after  centuries  of  objective  and  extrinsic 
training.  The  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  evi- 
dently contemplate  this  most  distinctly. 

Yet  the  provisional  divine  method  adopted  at  the 
beginning  was  not  altogether  fruitless.  Important 
purposes  were  accomplished.  The  history  of  the  peo- 
ple so  signally  distinguished  shows  advance  in  divine 
knowledge,  some  clearer  apprehension  of  truth  and 
obligation,  as  generation  succeeded  generation.  The 
worship  of  the  true  God  and  the  instruction  and  warn- 
ings of  his  prophets  were  not  all  in  vain.  As  for  the 
rest,  the  divine  originator  of  the  earlier  system  must 
have  known  full  well  the  obdurate  nature  of  the  per- 
sonal material  he  had  to  deal  with,  and  the  inadequacy 
of  all  extrinsic  methods  of  subduing  the  evil  inclina- 
tions of  men.  If  nothing  more  could  have  been  ac-  ' 
complished,  it  was  something  to  prove  beyond  con- 
troversy for  all  the  future  the  absolute  need  of  truth 
in  such  form,  and  instinct  with  such  inherent,  pene- 
trative, and  quickening  spirit  and  life  as  should  over-  \ 
come  all  resistance  and  reanimate  the  dead. 

Besides  this,  during  that  long  interval,  an  invalua- 
ble body  of  imperishable  truth  obtained  lodgment  and 
expression  in  the  earth,  addressed  to  whomsoever  it 
miglit  concern,  to  be  appropriated,  enjoyed,  and  util- 
ized for  human  need  in  all  the  future.  Those  who 
came  first  might  serve,  if  they  cared  for  nothing 
more,  as  common  carriers  to  the  generations  to  come. 
And  through  all  those  ages  a  highway  was  being  cast 


124  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

up  for  the  coming  of  the  great  King.  A  descent  was 
provided  from  a  royal  and  favored  stock  for  the  seed 
of  promise  whose  word  and  power  should  bring  joy 
to  the  nations.  Human  thought,  too,  was  broadened 
and  deepened  by  the  earlier  revelation,  and  so  by  nec- 
essarily slow  process  a  language  was  formed,  rich  and 
copious,  which,  better  than  all  the  tongues  that  had 
ever  been  known  among  men,  could  express  the  liv- 
ing truth  that  should  bring  the  fallen  and  lost  into 
fellowship  with  God. 

We  are  not  at  a  loss  for  an  answer  to  the  sceptical 
question  so  naturally  suggested  by  Canon  Mozley's 
otherwise  admirable  work,  with  regard  to  the  hopeful- 
ness of  carrying  the  advanced  truth  of  the  Gospel,  the 
perfected  wisdom  and  grace,  to  the  nethermost  pagan 
mind.  It  might  be  enough  for  us,  who  recognize  a 
divine  Commander-in-chief  with  full  confidence  and 
joyful  submission  to  his  will,  to  say  that  we  do  not 
t^^  /^  care  to  speculate  and  philosophize.  We  are  under 
^cL  ^  positive  orders.  We  have  the  command  to  go  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature, 
which  includes  Hottentots  and  cannibals — all  degrees 
of  moral  obtuseness — and  he  guarantees  our  success 
by  his  assurance,  "  I  am  with  you  always,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  world."  Hearing  this  word,  neither 
prophet  nor  apostle,  canon  nor  cardinal,  philosopher, 
jurist,  nor  pope  shall  turn  us  aside. 

We  add  to  this  that  incontestable  facts  are  bet- 
ter than  philosophical  assumptions.  The  living 
word  of  Christ,  which  it  is  our  desire  in  this  little 
book  above  all  things  to  exalt,  does   penetrate  the 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  125 

brutish  heart.  It  is  showing  its  power  in  the  every- 
day experience  of  thousands,  who,  in  faith  and  love 
and  deepest  sympathy  with  men  in  their  spiritual 
blindness  and  degradation,  are  putting  it  to  the  test, 
and  have  abundantly  proven  its  effectiveness.  It  was 
only  yesterday  that  one  of  our  most  cultured  citizens, 
a  man  of  keen  observation,  but  not  a  Christian  at  all, 
who  had  just  returned  from  Honolulu,  told  us  of  hav- 
ing visited  an  old  patriarch  of  great  intelligence,  thor- 
oughly civilized,  in  all  his  thoughts  and  ways  like  one 
of  us,  who  distinctly  remembered  the  debasing  human 
sacrifices,  and  the  horrid  superstitions  and  cruelties 
of  a  population  so  recently  savage  and  barbarous,  but 
who  now,  transformed  by  the  Gospel  within  a  single 
generation,  desire  to  come  into  closest  bonds  with  our- 
selves. 

We  only  need  further  to  ask, — whatever  may  be 
alleged  of  the  earlier  divine  method,  as  contradicting 
every  other  hope  of  elevating  the  debased, — what  en- 
couragement have  we  to  go  back  to  a  system  which 
proved  so  ineffective  in  laying  hold  upon  the  hearts 
of  men,  when  we  have  in  our  possession  the  living 
words  that  "  millions  have  found  to  be  the  powder  of 
God  unto  salvation."  If  the  perfected  truth  in  the 
Gospel  were  an  abstruse  system  of  ethics  and  dogma, 
requiring  faculties  thoroughly  trained  by  science  and 
philosophy,  we  might  indeed  be  hopeless  of  the  re- 
sults of  missionary  labor.  But  the  glory  of  the  Gos- 
pel is  the  simplicity  of  its  message.  It  armounces 
a  Saviour  whose  lips  give  law  to  the  world,  and  that 
law  is  love.     It  celebrates  in  all  the  earth  the  simple 


126  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

fact  that  ''  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  It  is  a  per- 
manently effective  revelation,  which  supplements 
or  supersedes  everything  provisional  or  inadequate 
that  had  preceded  it.  The  power  it  introduced  into 
the  world  is  vested  in  a  divine  person  incarnate,  who 
gives  eyes  to  the  blind  and  draws  men  to  himself  by 
a  marvellous  attraction.  The  time  is  come  when  the 
dead  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  hearing 
they  live. 

With  the  exception  noted,  the  work  of  the  eminent 
Oxford  Professor  is  of  rare  value  as  a  contribution  to 
Biblical  Theology.  It  is  masterly  in  its  moral  dis- 
criminations, and  in  its  clearness  and  force  in  exhibit- 
ing the  consummate  wisdom  which  gradually  dis- 
placed the  crude  and  unworthy  conceptions  that  be- 
fore held  the  ground,  by  a  revelation  at  first  fragment- 
ary and  imperfect,  but  step  by  step  tending  toward 
completeness.  The  view  is  illuminative,  and  we  are 
prepared  to  carry  the  principle  of  progression  as  char- 
/acteristic  of  God's  dealings  with  the  human  race  be- 
yond the  point  where  the  writer  has  left  it.  By  press- 
ing his  thought  further  in  the  same  direction  he 
might  have  brought  a  stronger  light  to  bear  upon  the 
training  of  a  debased  humanity  by  divine  methods  to 
the  highest  moral  excellence. 

So,  too,  he  might  have  solved  more  completely  the 
mystery  of  the  long  delay  before  the  dawn  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  the  no  less  oppressive  mystery  of  its 
slow  progress  after  its  introduction.     Even  yet  to  hu- 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  127 

man  appearance  how  far  in  the  future  is  the  completed 
moral  restoration  of  our  race — even  yet  now,  after 
added  centuries,  in  the  indefinite  future. 

Infinite  wisdom  alone  is  fully  adequate  to  these 
problems.  If  we  venture  a  single  step  forward  it 
may  be  thought  that  we  are  entering  a  region  of  ab- 
stractions and  uncertainties.  Dogmatic  affirmation  is 
certainly  to  be  avoided. 

Our  principal  relief  is  in  facts  already  emphasized, 
— in  the  relation  between  the  lower  intellective  faculty 
in  man,  and  the  higher  spiritual  nature,  the  breath  of 
God,  which  alone  can  apprehend  and  enjoy  him. 

Is  not  truth,  the  aliment  which  in  its  separable 
elements  must  nourish  both  the  lower  and  the  higher, 
adapted  to  a  twofold  need  ?  We  may  also  recall  from 
a  previous  chapter  that  in  our  personal  apprehension 
of  truth  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  there  is  an  evo- 
lutionary principle,  a  law  of  growth,  which  through 
the  grace  of  the  Spirit  regulates  the  whole  process  of 
development  in  the  individual  and  in  the  race.  The 
truth  lies  before  us  in  inexhaustible  supply.  But  its 
reception  and  assimilation  depend  upon  personal  ca- 
pacity. We  refer  now  to  the  higher  truth,  to  that 
which  pertains  to  the  infinite  God  in  his  relations 
with  man  as  reaching  the  higher  spiritual  nature,  the 
divine pneuma,  through  the  intellect,  the  human  j^^y-  . 
che  ;  for  even  spiritual  truth  has  its  intellective  side.    Z-*'^****^ 

Now  what  if  there  be  here,  not  only  a  provision  of 
appropriate  fare  for  each  constituent  of  our  dual  na- 
ture, as  each  hungers  for  truth  of  its  own  kind,  but 
also  a  law,  that  the  provision,  and  the  consequen 


128  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

growth  of  the  two,  shall  be  equable ;  or,  at  least,  that 
the  higher  shall  not  proceed  much  faster  than  the 
lower,  which  is  mediately  the  source  of  its  supply. 

Thus  would  be  secured  the  symmetrical  develop- 
ment of  the  superior  immortal  nature  from  stage  to 
stage  in  an  ever  ascending  scale.  Surely  its  advance 
must  be  relative ;  that  is,  relative  to  the  more  or  less 
advanced  intellective  faculty,  to  which  the  aliment  for 
both,  the  knowledge  objectively  supplied,  will  ever  be 
adapted. 

No  one  will  question  that  there  are  certain  correct 
statements  concerning  God,  the  loftiest  subject  of  our 
human  intellection,  which  are  not  above  the  reason, 
however  narrowly  defined.  Even  in  its  lowest  condi- 
tion it  may  be  educated  to  their  level  by  natural 
process.  These  statements  are  in  a  great  measure 
abstract  and  juiceless,  destitute  of  the  spirit  and  life 
which  cold  and  heartless  reason  cannot  appreciate,  nor 
even  discern.  Nevertheless  they  are  true,  invaluable, 
and  also  indispensable  as  a  vehicle,  or  solvent  —  a 
chemist  would  say — through  which  the  more  pro- 
found, perfect,  and  spiritual  knowledge  must  be  re- 
ceived. They  may  be  embodied  in  confessions  and 
catechisms,  to  be  recited  by  rote  and  accepted  as  arti- 
cles of  faith,  and  not  altogether  unintelligently.  The 
learner  may  think  that  he  knows  God — and  does  he 
not  in  a  very  important  sense  ?  St.  Paul  refers  to 
such  knowledge  in  exhibiting  the  responsibility  of  the 
Gentiles  as  commensurate  with  their  intelligence : 
"  Because  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  mani- 
fest in  them ;  for  God  manifested  it  unto  them.     For 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  129 

the  invisible  things  of  him,  since  the  creation  of  the 
world,  are  clearly  seen,  being  perceived  through  the 
things  that  are  made,  even  his  everlasting  power  and 
divinity  ;  that  they  may  be  without  excuse  "  (Rom.  i. 
19,  20.     R.  Y.). 

Yet  all  along  the  line  of  human  progress  the  truth 
presented  concerning  God,  both  in  substance  and 
form,  must  be  wisely  adjusted  to  undeveloped  ca- 
pacity, intellectual  and  spiritual.  By  a  process  of 
moral  assimilation  it  enters  the  organism  for  which 
it  was  prepared,  milk  for  babes  and  solid  food  for 
the  mature. 

The  form,  through  the  imperfection  of  the  human 
medium  of  transmission,  may  exhibit  some  perversion, 
in  which  its  higher  and  more  potent  elements  are  not 
manifest.  But  it  may  be,  for  that  reason,  the  best  pos- 
sible for  the  organism  at  the  time.  By  and  by  it  will 
have  enlarged  capacity,  and  the  same  revelation  may 
exhibit  the  full  truth,  through  the  more  perfect  con- 
ception in  spiritual  maturity. 


XY. 

HOPE  LONG  DEFEKEED— CONTmUED. 

This  is  a  point  of  great  interest  in  connection  with 
the  progressive  education  of  the  race  under  divine 
tutelage.  It  needs  space,  and  we  arrest  for  a  few  pages 
our  advance  in  the  main  Hne. 

We  shall  never  penetrate  the  mystery  of  the  pro- 
tracted postponement  of  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  and  of  other  post- 
ponements that  stagger  weak  faith,  without  a  more 
^  1^,    profound  study  of  man's  composite  nature, — of  tbe 
^  yU^  two  elements  in  its  composition  as  restated  in  the  last 
'  "     chapter,  and  of  the  relation  of  the  superior  principle 
or  organ  through  which  alone  he  can  attain  a  true 
''*^'-     conception  of  God,  to  the  inferior  intellective  faculty 
'  which  is  its  basis,  or  indispensable  prerequisite.    With- 
out the  soul,  or  rational  principle,  as  well  as  the  spirit, 
or  capacity  for  higher  realities,  the  divine  Spirit  could 
never  have  entered  into  his  being,  bringing  him  into 
fellowship  with  God.    The  rational  principle,  as  first  in 
existence,  may  be  thought  of  as  the  receptacle  of  the 
spiritual,  as  the  latter  is  the  receptacle  of  the  pure  and 
living  truth  of  God  in  its  higher  significance  and 
power.      For  here   the  conscience   and   all  gracious 
affections  have  their  seat,  and  in  these  God  establishes 
(130) 


Lt^', 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  131 

his  benign  and  loving  authority  and  rules  over  the 
man. 

In  the  nature  of  things  there  can  be  no  revelation 
of  God  to  a  beast.  The  difficulty  is  similar  in  kind  to 
that  of  teaching  science  to  one  of  the  stones  of  the 
field.  Creative  power  must  first  produce  mind.  If 
one  of  the  higher  sciences  is  to  be  taught,  it  must 
have,  as  the  indispensable  preparation,  mind  in  cor- 
responding culture  and  advancement.  It  would  be 
very  meagre  knowledge  of  astronomy  that  could  be 
imparted  to  a  Hottentot  fresh  from  his  native  kraal 
by  the  most  experienced  and  skillful  educator.  The 
requisite  faculty  is  there,  but  it  must  be  developed  by 
methods  appropriate  to  its  nature  and  laws. 

In  the  analysis  of  manhood  in  its  completeness  each 
component  part  rises  higher  than  its  precursor  in  the 
order  of  creation  and  existence, — body — soul — spirit. 
This  order  cannot  be  reversed,  nor  the  intermediate 
constituent  be  omitted,  so  that  the  third  may  exist  and 
perform  its  functions  independently  of  the  second. 
Neither  can  that  intermediate  be  insufficient  in  culture 
and  development,  if  spiritual  truth  of  exalted  quality 
and  grade  is  to  be  successfully  injected.     When  theTvio.-*^ 
intellectuality  is  feeble  and  narrow,  only  the   rudi- 
ments of  divine  knowledge  can  be  apprehended,  and  ^     -^^-^ 
these  very  imperfectly.     The  deficiency  may  be  called  ^^^^ 
phenomenally  lack  of  'spiritual  apprehension.'  But  the  ,\, 
trouble  is  in  part  lower  down  in  the  human  organism.     ^^^ 
For  spiritual  apprehension  can  never  be  wholly  inde-        -vot/n 
pendent  of  the  underlying  intellectual  apprehension,  » 
but  must  in  some  measure  keep  pace  with  it.     For  in     *^/-^ 


1B2  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

the  natural  constitution  and  original  scheme  and  order 
of  divine  efficiency,  it  was  its  crowning  efflorescence 
and  glory. 

Whenever  the  intellect  has  attained  sufficient  growth 
we  may  expect  a  corresponding  enlargement  of  the 
higher  spiritual  capacity  through  the  impartation  of 
new  life  from  the  primal  source.  This  in  its  turn 
will  create  a  stimulative  reaction.  The  higher  facul- 
ties in  their  development  will  expand  and  elevate  the 
lower,  and  the  whole  man  will  rise  to  nobler  rank  in 
existence.     This  is  abundantly  confirmed  by  the  fre- 

^^^^       quent  result  of  the  entrance  of  spiritual  life  into  men 

t  ii       of  low  intellectuality. 

Nevertheless  it  remains  true,  and  should  be  held  in 

iU^'  C^  remembrance  with  reference  to  our  further  statements 

^  ^/f-  }  i^po"  the  subject,  that  there  must  be  some  sufficient 


^ '  development  of   the   lower  intellectual   capacity,  in 

^^^^C  order  that  the  salutary  process  may  begin.     Corrobo- 

V  rs.t>^  rative  of  this  on  a  large  scale,  and  helpful  in  the  study 

'  "  of  human  nature  in  its  bearing  upon  the  mystery  we 

are  now  contemplating,  are  the  experiences  of  mis- 

'  <ii  C^.  sionary  activity  when  carried  on  extensively,  and  for 

a  sufficient  time.     They  are  especially  interesting  as 

showing  the  development  and  expansion  that  result 

from  the  attempt  to  convey  spiritual  conceptions  to 

comparatively  low  intellection. 

The  introduction  of  Christianity  into  the  Turkish 
Empire  serves  our  purpose  admirably.  It  had  mighty 
influence  upon  thought,  language,  and  all  educational 
advance,  quite  apart  from  success,  or  rather,  with 
almost  entire  failure,  in  displacing  the  religious  ideas 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  133 

of  Mohammedanism  and  making  converts  to  the  new 
faith. 

The  first  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Turkish,  al- 
though the  best  then  possible,  was  very  poor.  This 
was  simply  because  that  language  had  no  suitable 
words  for  some  of  the  most  important  conceptions  in 
the  divine  revelation.  AVhen  complete,  the  transla- 
tors gave  it  forth,  earnestly  endeavoring  to  convey  to 
such  as  were  accessible  some  right  notions  of  God,  and 
of  the  nature  of  the  service  he  requires,  in  contrast 
with  the  religion  of  the  Koran. 

They  succeeded  in  attracting  attention  and  in  stim- 
ulating intellectual  activity.  In  some  imperfect  de- 
gree they  were  understood.  But  even  the  most 
elementary  instruction  upon  such  subjects,  introduced 
many  ideas  quite  foreign  to  previous  thought.  Im- 
mediately new  words  had  to  be  forged,  adapted  to 
ideas  less  material  and  earthy  than  had  been  ever 
before  conceived.  The  new  faith  was  freely  dis- 
cussed jpro  and  con  in  various  circles.  The  prevailing 
opposition  to  its  vaguely  apprehended  doctrines 
pressed  forward  the  national  mind,  and  enlarged  its 
capacity  for  conceiving  and  expressing  this  elevated 
thought,  this  new  philosophy  concerning  the  nature 
of  God,  and  his  relations  with  men. 

In  less  than  ten  years  the  first  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  became  intolerable,  simply  because  it  was 
not  up  to  the  times.  The  nation  had  outgrown  it, 
and  this  through  its  own  educative  influence,  —  a 
beautiful  instance  of  evolution  in  the  world  of  mind. 
Many  new  and  expressive  words  had  come  into  cur- 


134  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

rent  use  in  matters  etliical,  metaphysical,  and  dogmatic, 
which  were  suggested  by  this  book.  Yet  they  were 
not  found  upon  its  pages,  but  in  place  of  them  words 
singularly  inappropriate.  Both  thought  and  speech 
had  so  far  transcended  it,  that  it  seemed  fairly  bar- 
barous, and  must  be  thoroughly  rewrought  in  a  fresh 
rendering. 

The  change  went  on.  Newspapers,  educational 
institutions  of  higher  and  lower  grade,  and  other 
indications  of  intellectual  advance  increased  and 
multiplied.  The  entire  nation  felt  the  pulsations  of 
a  new  life  in  all  departments  of  mental  activity.  The 
language  continued  to  become  richer  in  words  adapted 
to  the  higher  culture,  especially  in  philosophic  and 
religious  thought.  Even  the  second  translation  of 
the  Bible  in  another  decade  became  antiquated  through 
the  progress  of  education,  and  was  supplanted  by  a 
third. 

It  makes  the  fact  we  are  impressing  more  significant 
that  through  the  rigorous  exclusiveness  and  intoler- 
ance of  Mohammedanism,  the  essential  principles  of 
Christianity  as  a  spiritual  religion  failed  to  produce 
any  appreciable  effect  upon  the  religious  life  of  the 
nation  during  all  this  time. 

We  can  begin  now  to  understand  how  it  was  that 
the  higher  inspiration  and  more  perfect  revelation  of 
God,  that  were  to  transform  the  world,  might  not  be 
introduced  until  due  preparation  had  been  made  in 
the  intellectual  growth  of  humanity.  This  prelimi- 
nary result  has  been  measurably  secured  by  various 
natural   processes  ordained   by  infinite  wisdom   and 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  135 

grace.     At  first,  in  families,  or  groups  of  families, 
constituting  a  tribe  or  nation,  in  close  relation  and 
mutual  dependence  on  interchange  of  thought.     Then 
further,  by  enlargement  of  ideas  through  the  contact 
of  every  nation  with  a  world  outside  its  own  limits ; 
by  philosophies  propounded  and  controverted ;  by  the 
more  extended  knowledge  of  monotheistic  Judaism 
with  its   rich  traditional   knowledge  of   the  earliest 
time,  and  its  exalted  religious  theory  and  practice  in 
contrast  with  surrounding  heathenism,-— by  these  and 
many  other  influences,  the  range  of  thought  became 
wider  and  deeper,  and  the  mind  of   the  world  was 
steadily  rising  somewhat  nearer  the  level  it  should 
normally  attain  if  the  higher  truth  is  to  root  itself  in 
the  mind  of  the  world.     Otherwise,  in  the  course  of 
nature  it  must  soon  have  perished,  like  the  seed  sown 
in  stony  places  where  it  had  not  much  depth  of  earth. 
What  we  have  thus  advanced  is  confirmed  by  the 
results  of   missionary  labor  in  India.     We  refer  to 
intellectual  and  religious  ferment  within  the  last  fifty 
years,  in  connection  with  the  British  rule  in  India, 
and  the  contact  of   its  vast  population  with  Chris- 
tianitv.     It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  ancient  be- 
liefs  are  losing  their  hold  upon   the  leading  native 
races.     The  great  problem  is,  what  shall  replace  them  ? 
The  foolishness  of  Hinduism  with  its  Shastras  has  been 
outgrown.    From  the  old  Vedas,  produced  in  the  long- 
past  age  when  Sanskrit  was  a  living  tongue,  come 
deep-toned  echoes  confirmative  of   the  truth  of  the 
Bible  that  human  nature  is  corrupt,  and  evil  continu- 
ally.    Their  religion  is  a  philosophy  acute  and  pro- 


136  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED, 

found.  Whatever  truth  it  contains  is  from  God,  an 
inspiration  coincident  with  natural  law  in  the  devel- 
opment of  an  immortal  spirit.  But  their  highest  wis- 
dom exhibits  no  deliverance  from  the  bondao^e  and 
misery  of  sin,  and  as  a  system  of  religion  it  is  doomed, 
as  insufficient  for  the  needs  of  men. 

It  is  the  testimony  of  a  distinguished  advocate  of 
the  new  Brahmoism  that  "  Christian  missionaries, 
Christian  men,  and  Christian  literature  above  all, 
have  roused  the  dormant  nature  of  the  East,  the 
natural  results  of  which  are  more  or  less  manifest  in 
every  part  of  India."  The  principal  natural  result 
of  this  awakening  is  a  rapid  intellectual  development, 
preparing  the  way,  we  may  hope,  for  the  clearer 
apprehension  and  more  intelligent  adoption  of  the 
spiritual  religion  of  the  Bible. 

Yet  the  older  faith  of  the  Hindus  had  its  glimpses 
of  God  and  sporadic  jewels  of  truth.  So  had  the 
Confucian  in  China,  the  Zoroastrian  in  Persia,  and  the 
Olympic  of  Greece.*  The  "hght  of  Asia,"  although 
not  "  the  true  light,"  ^'  the  hght  of  the  world,"  was 
not  black  darkness.  For  ages  the  preparation  had 
been  going  on.  Before  Christianity  was  known  to 
the  inheritors  of  these  ancient  religions,  and  even  in 
the  far-off  times  when  their  great  prophets  were  living 
instructors  of  men,  the  evolutionary  process,  intellect- 
ual and  moral,  however  slowly,  was  already  on  the  ad- 
vance. Their  oracles,  now  treasured  as  sacred,  were  not 
in  the  first  instance  delivered  to  antediluvian  monsters, 

*  See  Sir  William  E,   Gladstone  in  North- American  Review, 
April,  1891;  "The  Olympic  Religion,"  No.  III. 


HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED.  137 

nor  to  the  freebooting  tribes  of  Abraliam's  time,  nor 
to  the  degraded  people  tliat  afterward  polhited  the 
soil  of  Canaan.  Several  thousand  years  make  some 
difference  in  development  under  whatever  disadvan- 
tages. 

Everything  moves  faster  now.  The  world  is  being 
more  rapidly  prepared  for  Christ,  and  Christ  is  com- 
ing forward  to  take  possession  of  the  world.  God  in 
nature,  working  from  w^ithin  its  great  heart  toward  a 
grand  consummation,  and  the  God  of  grace,  proclaim- 
ing himself  in  Christ  and  the  Bible,  are  one  God,  t(3 
be  blessed  forever.  The  natural  and  the  supernatural 
are  not  so  wide  apart  as  some  people  imagine. 

We  have  written  these  last  pages  as  we  might  if 
the  whole  world  had  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  the  pro- 
cess they  briefly  describe,— of  the  impact  of  mind 
upon  mind  that  has  stimulated  the  intellectual,  and 
to  some  extent  the  moral,  activities  of  the  principal 
races  of  the  earth.  We  need  not  be  reminded  that 
outside  of  this  current  and  flow,  on  distant  shores  and 
islands  of  the  sea,  and  in  the  interior  of  great  conti- 
nents, there  are  isolated  tribes  of  a  lower  type,  unaf- 
fected by  the  upward  tendency  of  the  central  mass. 
Their  barbarism  and  moral  debasement  is  scarcely 
less  than  that  of  the  earliest  historic  times. 

The  conviction  has  been  expressed  in  the  chapter 
immediately  preceding,  that  the  great  Supreme  is  not 
the  bond-slave  to  his  own  prevailing  methods.  The 
processes  of  nature  in  the  material  universe  are  varia- 
ble. Geological  changes  whose  time  must  ordinarily 
be  measured  by  immense  periods,  may  be  wrought  by 


138  HOPE  LONG  DEFERRED. 

the  greater  activity  of  natural  forces  most  rapidly. 
In  the  freer  evolution  of  the  world  of  spirit,  of  intel- 
ligence, of  personal  will,  as  between  the  great  Su- 
preme and  those  into  whom  he  has  breathed  his  own 
life,  there  are  all  hopeful  possibilities  through  special 
grace  for  special  need.  The  labors  of  Williams  in 
the  South  Sea  Islands,  and  of  Moffat  in  Southern 
Africa,  are  the  abundant  proof  of  the  power  of  the 
Gospel  to  transform  the  most  degraded. 


-^  ^"^  —  itu^y^-. 

^^Ula/^^J^ 

<J  ^<u .    u 

^  t^  u 

^^,  ^  ^^ 

XVI. 
THE  PITEPOSE  OF  THE  KEYELATIOK 

We  have  now  reached  the  last  of  the  several  points 
that  were  proposed  in  the  tenth  chapter.  It  was  there 
stated  that  whatever  is  necessarily  implied  in  revela- 
tion as  a  gracious  activity,  must  be  helpful  in  defining 
the  inspiration  that  produced  it.  It  implies  nothing 
more  clearly  than  a  specific  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the 
Revealer,  to  the  accomplish uient  of  which  the  revela- 
tion will  be  adapted  in  measure  and  in  form. 

We  could  not  avoid  the  incidental  mention  of  this 
divine  purpose  in  remarking  upon  the  Scriptures  as 
revealing  God  in  his  relations  with  men,  and  further 
in  referring  to  the  revelation  as  addressed  definitely 
to  the  conscience  and  heart,  and  only  to  the  intellect- 
ual perception  as  means  to  an  end.  Thus  all  the  way 
along  and  at  each  successive  step  we  have  to  choose 
between  alternatives,  and  invariably  have  preferred 
the  higher  to  the  lower,  the  moral  to  the  natural,  the 
spirit  to  the  intellect  as  chief  in  God's  regard ;  and 
we  must  do  so  here  with  reference  to  the  purpose  of 
God  in  revealing  himself  to  men. 

In  specifying  this  purpose  we  must  distinguish  be- 
tween the  nearer  and  the  more  remote^  dwelling  in 

this  chapter  upon  the  former. 

(139) 


140         THE  PURPOSE  OF  REVELATION. 

It  maj  be  assumed  as  self-evident  that  the  purpose 
of  any  revelation  must  precisely  correspond  with  its 
character  and  contents.  For  we  have  seen  that  the 
word  revelation  signifies  literally  the  putting  aside  a 
veil,  in  order  that  whatever  lies  behind  it  may  be  seen 
and  enjoyed  in  its  practical  uses  and  bearings.  For 
what  is  a  revelation  that  makes  no  one  the  wiser  with 
reference  to  the  subject  it  presents  ? 

We  have  then  our  answer,  since  we  know  already 
that  the  subject  of  the  disclosure  is  the  infinite  God 
in  his  righteousness  and  grace,  as  manifested  in  his 
dealings  with  the  children  of  men.  His  transcendent 
moral  excellences  were  unveiled  before  them,  in  order 
to  a  suitable  impression  upon  their  consciences  with 
reference  to  his  claim  to  their  reverence,  confidence, 
and  obedience.  He  would  fain  reach  their  hearts,  and 
establish  there  his  gracious  authority  —  that  "with 
unveiled  face  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  they  may  be  transformed  into  his  image 
from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord."  Thus  the  exterior  revelation  becomes  inte- 
rior, now  for  the  first  a  revelation  indeed. 

Such  words  as  the  following  occur  to  us  in  illustra- 
tion,— words  of  our  Saviour :  "  I  thank  thee,  O  Fa- 
ther, Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  thou  hast  hid 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  re- 
vealed them  unto  babes.  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it 
seemed  good  in  thy  sight."  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon 
Barjonah ;  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  this 
unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven  "; — and 
other  words  from  St.  Paul,  forgetting  his  admirable 


THE   PURPOSE  OF  REVELATION.         141 

dialectics,  not  speaking  as  a  philosopher,  or  a  theolo- 
gian, but  relating  in  simple  words  the  most  precious 
experience  of  his  personal  life,  by  virtue  of  which  he 
became  the  power  for  good  that  he  was :  "  It  was  the 
good  pleasure  of  God  who  separated  me,  even  from 
my  mother's  womb,  and  called  me  through  his  grace, 
to  reveal  his  Son  in  me^  that  I  niiglit  preach  him 
among  the  Gentiles." 

The  light  of  holy  love  so  revealed  irradiates  the 
house,  and  no  evil  thing  can  abide  it.  Foul  birds  of 
darkness  take  their  flight,  and  the  renovated  spirit  de- 
livered from  its  sin  rejoices  in  God.  "  This  is  life 
eternal,  that  they  should  know  thee,  the  only  true 
God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus 
Christ." 

Does  this  reach  correctively  any  prevailing  mis- 
conceptions of  the  Bible  ?  Does  it  negative  any  of 
our  thoughts  concerning  its  chief  purpose  ? 

The  principal  purpose  of  our  Bible  is  not  to  give  us 
immaciiTateness  as  respects  every  infinitesimal  point  to  ; 
be  embodied  in  the  most  perfect  creed  or  System  of/ 
Theology.  As  already  intimated,  the  Sacred  Yolume 
has  been  treated  too  much  as  if  it  were  a  confused 
mass  of  heterogeneous  material  for  the  elaboration  of 
a  catechism.  Undoubtedly  the  exercise  of  framing 
such  symbols  has  stimulated,  strengthened,  and  sharp- 
ened intellectual  acumen  amazingly,  and  has  thus 
proved  splendid  training  for  that  important  part  of 
our  interior  mechanism. 

But  we  imagine  that  if  such  had  been  the  divine 
purpose  this  great  volume  would  have  been  consider- 


142    THE  PURPOSE  OP  REVELATION. 

ably  reduced  in  its  dimensions,  and  that  we  should 
have  found  somewhere  between  its  lids  more  defini- 
tions and  something  that  looks  more  like  a  creed  than 
anything  that  occurs  there.  What  an  abundant  Con- 
fession of  Faith  might  be  compressed  within  the 
space  now  occupied  by  the  four  Gospels.  Why  should 
not  the  inspiring  Spirit  have  helped  us  in  this,  instead 
of  leaving  the  precious  material  so  mixed  and  scat- 
tered that  all  the  doctors  cannot  arrange  and  express 
some  small  parts  of  it  to  their  unanimous  satisfac- 
tion? 

Was  it  the  divine  purpose,  that  those  who  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  glory  in  him  as  the  one  living 
head  of  the  one  church  that  he  built,  should  think 
alike  on  all  points  of  doctrine,  and  that  the  now-called 
Arminians  and  Calvinists,  Churchmen  and  Dissenters, 
Sprinklers  and  Immersionists,  should  occupy  one  fold, 
and  recite  with  one  heart  and  voice  their  common 
Credo,  even  as  they  expect  hereafter  to  celebrate  in 
unison  the  praises  of  redeeming  love  ? 

If  this  were  so,  never  has  a  divine  purpose  failed  so 
lamentably.  Instead  of  uniting  them  in  hol}^  love 
and  faith  and  praise,  this  intellective  exercise  upon 
the  revelation  they  all  hold  divine  has  been  the  means 
of  separating  them,  it  seems  almost  hopelessly,  unless 
God  shall  give  us  a  new  revelation  as  an  exposition  of 
the  old. 

And  one  might  ask.  Can  there  ever  be  a  revelation 
in  words  about  the  meaning  of  which  acute  minds 
may  not  differ  widely  ?  It  does  not  seem  possible ; 
xXS^,  ^'^^and  we  have  grievously  misconceived  and  misused  the 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  REVELATION.  143 

precious  Book  that  reveals  to  us  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  in  insisting  on  uniformity  of  creed  in  minute  de- 
tails as  the  most  important  of  all  things.  The  divine 
purpose  must  have  been,  we  need  not  quote  Scripture 
to  prove  it,  to  unite  the  heterogeneous  mass  of  human- 
ity in  blessed  fellowship,  having  one  Lord,  one  faith, 
and  one  baptism.  Ts  it  possible  that  this  shall  ever 
become  a  realized  fact  ? 

It  is  the  common  cry  in  sustaining  verbal  inspira-  * 
tion  against  those  who  question  it,  How  shall  we 
otherwise  know  what  to  believe?  As  if  everything 
precious  were  imperilled  if  any  minute  point  in  which 
these  creeds  differ  should  become  doubtful ;  or  as  if 
the  claim  that  inspiration  is  in  the  thought  and  sub- 
stance, and  not  in  the  words,  affected  any  Christian 
doctrine  whatsoever.  But  surely  it  does  not.  It 
leaves  the  same  material  for  the  adroit  dialectician, 
the  profound  philosopher,  and  the  skillful  systematizer 
with  his  perfected  logical  arrangements. 

We  promised  something  more  in  its  place  about 
Systematic  Theology,  in  mitigation  of  apparent  disre- 
spect in  alluding  to  its  principle  and  methods,  as  in  con- 
trast w^ith  those  in  Biblical  Theology,  especially  to 
its  framework  and  order  as  mechanical  and  artificial, 
where  the  other  is  natural  and  living. 

But  it  is  a  noble  discipline.  Our  logical  faculties 
are  a  divine  gift,  and  no  mean  part  of  our  original 
endowment.  Dialectic  ability  is  to  be  wisely  and 
carefully  trained,  and  used  for  the  maintenance  of 
truth,  as  it  is  by  others  for  its  demolition.  Formula 
must  be  met  by  formula,  and  syllogism  by  syllogism. 


144         THE  PURPOSE  OF  REVELATION. 

Sophistry  must  be  exposed  and  put  to  shame  by  log- 
ical process  more  acute  and  discriminating. 

This  is  its  province,  not  to  be  disparaged — to  estab- 
lish truth  by  sound  reasoning,  to  refute  error  when 
presented  in  the  forms  of  logic,  and  to  satisfy  minds 
that  are  trained  to  abstract  and  philosophical  thought, 
and  are  fond  of  metaphysical  distinctions.  Let  it  be 
cultivated,  but  always  remembering  that  in  so  far  as  its 
range  is  metaphysical  and  philosophic,  passing  beyond 
the  limits  of  common  thought,  it  is  for  the  theological 
class-room  or  for  books  addressed  to  metaphysicians 
and  philosophers,  or  to  theologians  supposed  to  be 
such,  and  not  for  ordinary  practical  use  in  exhibiting 
the  significance  of  the  divine  revelation  for  the  gen- 
eral instruction  of  mankind. 

Let  it  not  be  discarded  as  obsolete,  but  sedulously 
improved,  especially  by  more  careful  and  accurate 
study  of  the  Bible.  Already,  while  holding  its  sepa- 
rate place,  it  is  more  discriminative  in  its  treatment 
of  Scripture,  as  based  on  a  sound  exegesis,  and  a  rec- 
ognition of  the  different  values  of  its  material  as  indi- 
cated by  Biblical  Theology,  less  abstract  and  angular, 
more  spirited  and  inspiring.  It  will  be  a  grand  theol- 
ogy soon,  that  we  may  all  rejoice  in.  For  every  gain, 
and  all  growth  in  any  one  method  of  dealing  with  di- 
vine truth  must  be  of  interest  to  all  others  as  condu- 
cive to  their  common  purpose. 

We  return  to  the  affirmative,  but  only  for  emphatic 
restatement. 

The  immediate  purpose  of  the  divine  revelation  in 
the  Scriptures,  as  manifest  from  the  beginning,  is  to 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  REVELATION.         145 

reach  and  develop  the  moral  sensibilities  of  men  in 
their  personal  relation  to  a  personal  God,  to  renovate 
the  character  and  life,  to  create  confidence  in  place  of 
distrust;  that  men  may  appreciate  God  at  his  true 
value  to  themselves,  may  cultivate  friendship  with 
him  more  sedulously  than  with  one  another ;  that  de- 
sire and  delight  may  come  in,  where  before  was 
apathy  or  aversion ;  that  men  may  repent  of  their 
sin,  and  know,  love,  and  obey  the  Father  of  their 
spirits. 

And  in  order  that  such  effects  may  be  more  surely 
produced,  we  have  God  revealed  to  us  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, not  in  abstractions  and  refined  theological  sub- 
tleties, but  in  all  gracious  activity,  as  Sovereign  and 
Father,  an  almighty  Protector  and  Friend,  to  be 
loved  and  trusted  forever. 

These  exhibitions  are  all  independent  of  studied 
and  unvarying  phrase.  The  inspiration  that  created 
them  was  more  of  the  heart  than  of  the  head.  They 
are  in  pictures,  rather  than  in  words, — in  thought, 
spirit,  substance,  and  not  in  the  letter. 

The  remote  purpose  of  the  Old  Testament  revela- 
tion is  only  accomplished  beyond  the  historic  limit  of 
time  within  which  its  inspiration  was  confined.  This 
will  be  considered  more  fully  after  an  intervening 
chapter. 


XYII. 

THE  GLOEYOF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 
EEYELATIOK 

Say  what  we  may  of  inaccuracies  and  contradic- 
tions, the  divine  element  in  these  Hebrew  Scriptures 
cannot  be  obscured  or  rationally  denied.  Above  the 
broad  surface  of  uninspired  literary  achievement  it 
glows  and  flashes  with  a  superior  radiance.  We  for- 
give and  forget  in  its  enjoyment  the  ruthless  Sara- 
cenic bigotry  that  destroyed  the  libraries  of  Cesarea 
and  Alexandria.  Those  vast  depositories  of  human 
erudition  can  have  contained  no  treasures  to  be  com- 
pared with  this. 

In  the  presence  of  this  radiance  we  may  think  as 
its  analogue  of  the  constellary  grouping  of  stars  in 
the  Milky  Way,  whose  luminous  arch,  sweeping  from 
horizon  to  horizon,  seems  to  project  in  bold  relief 
from  the  darkness  on  either  side.  As  we  gaze  on 
this  glory  we  may  think  of  the  Alps  in  the  European 
landscape,  sublimely  towering  above  the  low  lying 
levels  of  Germany  in  one  direction,  and  of  Italy  and 
the  Mediterranean  in  the  other. 

Such  is  the  Old  Testament  inspiration  in  which  we 
rejoice.  It  is  not  that  of  the  jot  and  the  tittle,  of 
vowel  points  and  accents,  of  mint  and  anise  and  cum- 
(146) 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION.      147 

niin,  of  microscopic  microbes  and  infusoria.  We  see 
in  it  ''  the  true  light  that  lightetb  every  man,  coming 
into  the  world,"  and  little  by  little  scattering  the 
darkness  that  enveloped  it.  "  The  testimony  of  Je- 
sus is  the  spirit  of  prophecy."  What  did  the  Apoca- 
lypt  mean  by  that  ?  "  The  Lord  cometh,  let  the  earth 
rejoice, — let  the  multitude  of  the  isles  be  glad  thereat. 
Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him,  righteous- 
ness and  judgment  are  the  supports  of  his  throne." 

In  the  presence  of  this  light  from  heaven,  where 
is  your  vain  babbler,  your  meretricious,  dramatic,  jug- 
gling, scoffing  sophist,  who  parades  "  The  Mistakes  of 
Moses,"  and  thinks  that  he  has  obliterated  the  ever- 
lasting truth  of  God  ?  But  this  shall  endure,  though 
all  else  that  attracts  our  admiration  should  perish. 
Mortal  man  in  his  greatest  glory  and  pride  is  like 
grass  and  the  flower  of  the  field.  ''  The  grass  with- 
ereth,  and  the  flower  fadeth,  but  the  word  of  the 
Lord  abideth  forever."  And  we  confidently  add  the 
apostolic  comment  upon  the  old  prophecy  :  "And  this 
is  the  word  that  by  the  Gospel  is  preached  unto  you." 

The  Old  Testament  contains  a  revelation  of  incom- 
parable value,  not  only  to  the  chosen  race  to  which  it 
was  imparted,  but  to  all  the  world.  But  its  value 
resides  not  in  the  accuracy  of  every  date,  and  the 
coherence  of  its  minor  details  with  each  other,  and  with 
the  absolute  truth ;  not  in  its  escape  from  all  injury 
through  the  blundering  manipulation  of  its  appointed 
custodians,  who  imagined  themselves  authorized  to 
accommodate  it  to  tradition  in  matters  not  affecting 
its  ruling  import  and  scope.  tu, 


us      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION. 

But  its  excellence  and  power  are  discovered  in  the 
record  it  contains, — one  that  maj  be  fearlessly  sub- 
jected to  the  severest  tests  of  historic  criticism, — the 
record  of  a  divine  ordering  of  events  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  toward  a  glorious  consummation 
in  the  bursting  of  light  from  heaven  upon  those 
sitting  in  the  darkness  and  shadow  of  death, — of 
transcendent  theophanies,  God  who  made  the  heavens 
of  old,  now  with  gracious  intent  visibly  manifesting 
his  glory  before  the  eyes  of  men, — of  ordinances  and 
institutions  full  to  the  brim  of  significance  for  the 
future,  object-lessons  of  the  most  luminous  kind 
which  the  great  Teacher  held  up  before  his  pupils, — 
of  prophecies  growing  clearer  and  clearer  from  the 
day  of  temptation  and  sin  till  the  "fulness  of  time" 
had  come  for  the  final  and  perfect  revelation  of  God 
in  the  flesh,  to  which  providential  guidance,  vision, 
theophany,  type,  and  prophecy  had  steadily  pointed 
from  the  first. 

This  revelation  of  grace  was  so  thoroughly  woven 
into  these  ancient  records  by  the  inspiring  Spirit — 
woven  into  their  texture  and  substance — that  it  could 
not  be  materially  impaired  except  by  the  absolute  de- 
struction of  the  whole  fabric.  Mere  surface  changes, 
whether  produced  by  ignorance  or  artifice,  were  of 
no  consequence  whatever.  Its  meaning  for  redemp- 
tion, for  moral  impression,  for  encouraging  to  the 
faithful  service  of  God  and  departure  from  sin,  for 
inculcation  of  lessons  of  courage,  hope,  and  confi- 
dence in  God,  was  quite  independent  of  chronological, 
geographical,  or  scientific  exactness. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION.      149 

The  traditions  of  the  scribes  and  elders  could  do  it 
no  harm.  Thej  were  too  shallow  to  touch  even  the 
upper  surface.  ''  What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat,  saith 
the  Lord.''  Its  sense  might  be  given  with  the 
slavishness  of  extreme  and  barbarous  literalism,  or  in 
sentences  elegantly  idiomatic  and  euphonious,  or  in 
the  freest  paraphrase  in  any  language  under  heaven, 
yet  its  light,  and  spirit,  and  power  w^ere  there,  only 
less  than  should  come  in  due  time  from  the  heart, 
and  lips,  and  eyes,  and  life  of  him  in  whose  glorious 
utterances  and  grace  it  all  received  its  fulfillment. 

What  did  it  matter  with  respect  to  the  hope  of 
Israel  to  be  realized  in  Christ,  whether  the  earlier 
histories  were  written  by  Moses,  or  were  the  product  / 
of  many  minds,  with  the  great  lawgiver  as  author  o^ 
editor  only  of  a  part  ?  What  did  it  matter  whether 
the  story  of  Eden  were  literal  fact  of  the  most  prosaic 
kind,  or  fact  idealized  in  condensed  and  graphic 
descriptions,  for  instruction  concerning  the  early 
moral  status  of  the  race  under  the  government  of 
God  ?  What  did  it  matter  whether  the  sweet  singer 
of  Israel  wrote  many  Psalms,  or  only  a  few,  after 
which  others  were  modelled  so  like  the  Davidic  that 
presently  authorship  became  confused  ;  and  what 
matter  w^hether  these  imitations  of  David  belong  to 
an  early,  or  to  a  much  later  time  than  Jewish  tradition 
has  assigned  them  ?  What  did  it  matter  whether 
there  were  one  Isaiah  or  two  ;  or  whether  the  Book  of 
Jonah  were  historic  fact  throughout,  or  partly,  like 
the  parables  of  our  Saviour,  instructive  fiction  ? 
What  did   it  matter  whether  Moses  personally  gave 


150     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION. 

the  whole  body  of  ritual  enactments  ascribed  to  him 
in  the  traditional  Scriptures,  or,  as  others  hold,  the 
Mosaic  books  contain,  besides  the  original  enactments, 
their  fuller  development  by  a  fresh  inspiration  adapted 
to  new  circumstances  and  later  needs  ?  "What  did  it 
matter  if  at  some  indefinite  time  long  after  these 
changes  were  introduced,  the  priests  and  scribes  who  had 
charge  of  this  service,  believing  in  an  unwritten  law, 
imagined  that  these  later  additions  had  been  given 
upon  Mount  Sinai,  and  felt  authorized  to  attach  them 
to  the  original  Mosaic  legislation  ? 

We  may  have  our  decided  opinion  upon  any  or  all 
of  these  questions.  It  may  be  opposed  to  innovation 
upon  the  older  views  that  have  so  long  held  the 
ground.  We  may  maintain  it  stoutly.  With  regard 
to  several  of  these  questions  our  personal  opinion 
tends  strongly  toward  the  conservative  side.  Yet 
whichever  alternative  we  adopt,  the  light  is  all  there, 
whose  brilliancy  no  ignorance  nor  artifice  can  dim. 
God's  holy  truth  is  not  endangered,  nor  can  his  mer- 
ciful purposes  be  thwarted. 

/  Our  Saviour  needed  not  in  quoting  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, nor  in  referring  to  them  as  fulfilled  in  himself, 
to  correct  errors  in  the  current  translation,  nor  in 
chronological  arrangement,  nor  in  reputed  author- 
ship. He  needed  not  to  trouble  those  to  whom  his 
bV— .  burning  words  were  addressed  with^the  trivialities  of 
^^.  ,  Higher  Criticism.  He  never  did.  Whatever  migHl: 
be  the  facts  with  regard  to  the  questions  which  it 
raises,  all  the  same  he  could  say  with  unfaltering 
lips :  "  Search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think  ye 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION.     151 

have  eternal  life,  and  they  are  thej  that  testify  of 
me." 

It  will  be  observed  that  with  reference  to  the  in- 
errancy of  the  Old  Testament,  w^hile  we  freely  make 
admissions  which  some  consider  fatal,  it  is  in  the 
interests  of  truth,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  its 
divine  authority.  We  do  not  abandon  it  to  the  en- 
emy, as  if  its  records  of  facts  had  been  so  thoroughly 
riddled  and  disparaged  by  historical  criticism  as  to 
be  no  longer  tenable ;  as  if,  dismantling  our  fortifica- 
tions, and  destroying  our  unavailing  armament,  we 
must  retreat  to  safer  ground.  Making  the  most  of 
obscurities  and  discrepancies,  anachronisms  and  con- 
tradictions to  secular  history,  they  are  indeed  like| 
specks  in  the  marble  pillars  of  the  Parthenon,  as 
compared  with  the  thousand  coincidences  in  minute 
circumstantial  statement  of  historic  incidents  in  the 
relations  of  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  the  nations  around 
them.  These  are  receiving  astounding  confirmation 
year  by  year  from  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  research. 

Yet  not  In  these  evidential  contributions  from 
without  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  have  the  Scrip- 
tures their  principal  support.  But  in  the  continued 
existence  of  the  Jewish  nation, — the  stewards  of  the 
living  oracles  of  God,  surrounded  by  mighty  em- 
pires, with  its  bold  and  offensive  testimony  against 
their  idolatries,  and  its  worship  of  the  one,  living, 
personal  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  as 
mightier  than  all  their  dynasties  and  their  pantheons, 
and  in  its  great  luminous  chain  of  historic,  theophanic, 
and  prophetic  witness  to  the  abiding  grace  of  the 


1 


152     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION. 

God  of  salvation,  and  of  his  sovereign  purpose  to 
raise  up  from  the  despised  Hebrew  nationaUty  one 
stronger  than  all  the  kings  and  the  gods  of  heathen- 
dom, who  should  deliver  the  earth  from  the  curse  of 
sin,  and  wear  upon  his  head  the  crown  of  universal 
and  everlasting  dominion. 

So  again  we  echo  the  Apocalyptic  voice :  "  The 
testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  ]proj>hecyP  For 
it  cannot  be  held  too  steadily  before  us,  that  this  Old 
Testament  is  not  self-luminous  nor  self-assertive.  It 
shines  with  no  dim  lustre,  yet  with  light  other  than 
its  own.  Alike  in  law  and  in  history,  as  well  in 
psalm  as  in  prophecy,  it  is  always  looking  forward, 
addressing  itself  even  more  to  hope  than  to  faith, 
and  proclaiming  the  glory  to  come  after. 

It  has  its  princes,  potentates,  and  warriors,  but  its 
grandest  majesty,  its  King  of  kings,  lives  outside  its 
own  limits.  Its  Christ,  the  anointed  of  God,  on 
whose  head  are  many  crowns,  is  a  foreshadowed 
Christ.  Its  golden  age,  its  reahzed  desire,  its  full 
fruition  of  joy  and  peace,  are  in  the  New  Testament, 
in  the  historic  Christy  the  Son  of  God  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

The  Kew  Testament,  in  distinction  from  the  Old, 
is  our  own  revelatien  of  God,  that  which  as  now 
living  upon  the  earth,  we  may  claim  as  our  very  own. 
The  revelations  of  the  far  past  belong  to  us  only 
partially  and  indirectly;  some,  as  promising  what 
we  now  possess;  some,  as  explanatory  of  the  New 
Testament,  where  we  might  otherwise  be  at  a  loss 
about  its  meaning ;  some,  as  embodying  general  prin- 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REVELATION.      153 

ciples,  which  may  sometimes  be  of  use.  But  here 
we  find  the  central  Ufe  and  h'ght  and  truth,  having 
which  we  might  dispense  with  all  other.  While  we 
have  the  sunlight  we  ask  not  for  the  starlight,  except 
when  our  weak  eyes  need  some  relief  from  the  excess- 
ive brightness  of  noonday. 

This  Christ  of  the  Gospels  is  the  completed  revela- 
tion of  God,  the  manifestation  of  divine  righteousness 
and  love,  with  which  none  can  be  compared,  and 
which  never  can  be  surpassed. 


XVIII. 

THE  PEOFHETS— THE  CHKIST— THE 
APOSTLES. 

We  pass  over  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New, 

from  prophets  to  apostles ;  and  between  these  two 

distinguished  orders  of  men  we  behold  one  greater 

' ,  than  them  all ;  the  only  perfect  and  final  revelation 

|i   of  God  to  men. 

In  the  whole  treatment  of  our  subject,  and  in  direct 
bearing  upon  the  new  definition  we  are  seeking,  there 
is  no  question  so  important  as  that  which  now  con- 
fronts us.  Our  success  in  reconstruction  depends 
.upon  the  answer  it  shall  receive:  What  is  the  rela- 
'  tion  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  to  all  that 
preceded  and  followed  it  ?  What  is  the  precise  dif- 
ference between  this  central  form  as  revealing  truth, 
and  the  mspiration  of  prophets  on  the  one  side,  and 
that  of  apostles  on  the  other  ? 

As  heretofore,  we  must  not  be  too  precipitate,  but 
very  carefully  feel  our  way  to  a  satisfactory  result. 

He  comes  at  last.     The  long  delay  is  ended.     The 

"  fulness   of   time "    is   reached.     What  is  the  sig- 

niiicance  of   his  coming?     Who   and  what   is   he? 

t.  cT^CcrWhat  shall  the  world  have  henceforth  that  it  had 

-,/»V^;  not  already?     Is  it  only  a  further  and  brighter  illu- 


THE  APOSTLES.  155 

mination — a  fuller  knowledge  of  God's  holiness  and 
grace  ? 

If  we  give  heed  to  prophetic  intimations,  the  new 
revelation  is  in  a  person,  rather  than  in  words ;  in 
what  he  was  and  did,  more  than  in  what  he  said. 
What  had  to  be  done  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  prom- 
ise of  his  coming?  The  head  of  the  serpent  must 
be  bruised.  The  families  of  the  earth  must  be 
blessed.  A  son  of  David  must  sit  upon  his  throne 
whose  kingdom  shall  be  established  forever.  "  Unto 
us  a  child  is  born  ;  unto  us  a  son  is  given  ;  and  the 
government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder :  and  his 
name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  The 
mighty  God,  The  everlasting  Father,  The  Prince  of 
Peace." 

God's  ultiinate  purpose^  now  to  be  potentially  re- 
alized, was  salvation — the  deliverance  of  the  earth 
from  the  curse  that  blighted  it.  What  does  that 
mean?  Is  it  only  that  some  signal  act  of  omnipo- 
tence is  now  to  be  expected,  as  if  mountains  were  to 
be  levelled  and  great  gulfs  to  be  filled — or  all  nature 
were  to  be  transformed  in  ideal  beauty  and  perfec- 
tion ?  Somewhat  so  it  had  been  pictured  in  proph- 
ecy, and  it  must  come  to  that  at  last.  But  the 
facts  we  face  first  are  simple  and  prosaic.  Evil  had 
taken  possession  of  man's  heart  and  ruled  in  his 
life.  The  Infinite  God  is  set  at  naught,  his  law 
boldly  transgressed,  and  his  power  defied.  Some- 
tliing  more  than  illumination,  and  other  power  than 
that  which  transforms  nature,  are  required  here. 

One  may  ask  with  the  completed  Old  Testament 


/ 


156  THE  PEOPHETS  :   THE  CHRIST  : 

in  his  hands,  to  what  extent  had  that  older  revelation 
accomplished  God's  purpose  in  moral  renovation  ? 
As  a  divine  system  of  progressive  education,  it  should 
have  prepared  its  favored  subjects  for  fuller  disclos- 
ures of  truth.  Did  it  issue  in  this — so  that  satisfac- 
tory results  may  be  expected  from  further  illumina- 
tion, simply  and  alone  ? 

It  must  be  replied  to  this  question,  that  the  grace 
of  the  Old  Testament  was  not  utterly  ineffective. 
Some  hearts  were  impressed.  There  were  always  in" 
Israel  devout  worshipers  and  faithful  servants  of  God. 
But  comparatively  very  few, — one  out  of  a  thousand, 
or  perhaps  even  fewer.  The  people  as  a  whole  were 
always  blind  and  stubborn.  The  divine  revelation 
shone  steadily  to  the  end  brighter  and  still  brighter. 
But  as  to  immediate  practical  results,  it  did  little  for 
Israel,  and  nothing  for  the  world  at  large. 

Since  words,  whether  addressed  to  the  consciences 
or  to  the  hearts  of  men,  have  all  failed,  something 
now  must  be  done,  thorough,  emphatic,  decisive. 
The  revelation  of  God  must  be  of  a  kind  that  shall 
mean  something  now  which  it  did  not  before.  Evil 
must  be  attacked  at  its  seat  and  centre  by  a  power 
greater  than  its  own,  and  enslaved  humanity  set  free. 

But  the  deliverance  must  come  from  itself,  ab  mtra, 
and  not  ab  extra, — immanent,  and  not  transcend- 
ent. The  battle  must  be  fought  out  on  an  earthly 
arena.  The  absolute  evil  and  the  absolute  good  must 
meet  on  the  same  level,  foot  to  foot,  face  to  face. 
And  yet — figures  of  speech  must  not  deceive  us — the 
contest  and  victory  depicted  in  the  Gospel  are  fruit- 


THE  APOSTLES.  157 

0 

less,  except  so  far  as  they  are  personally  realized  in  •_♦ 
individual  need.  A  leaven  must  be  infused  into  this  ^yyt 
human  mass,  that  shall  cbano^e  its  whole  nature  and  '^^^^^-^ 
substance.  What  is  needed  is  not  more  light  from  ~j  'Ha 
without — that  shall  come  too,  as  an  indispensable  ^x^^^J^ 
coincident — but  fresh  power  within,  strength  from  7^;^^.^ 
God  supplied  to  hearts  morally  weak,  a  new  prin- 
ciple of  life  that  shall  bid  defiance  to  death  forever. 

The  problem  is  solved  for  us  by  the  incarnation  of 
Deity,  by  the  eternal  Word  becoming  flesh  and 
dwelling  among  men.  He  grappled  with  the  evil  in 
the  perfected  glory  of  full-grown  manhood  in  every 
faculty  and  fibre,  yet  in  the  power  of  God  ;  mighty 
to  save  as  God  only  can  save,  able  nevertheless  to 
sympathize  with  his  human  brotherhood  in  its  moral 
imbecility  and  in  all  its  imperfection — ready  to  suffer 
with  it,  ready  to  die  for  it.  And  he  did  die — ''die 
unto  sin,"  that  men  might  "  live  unto  God." 

We  can  now  answer  the  question  :  "  Where  and 
what  was  this  perfect  revelation  in  Christ  in  distinc- 
tion from  that  of  the  prophets  ?  "  Radically  ditferent 
we  now  see  ;  otherwise,  like  theirs,  it  would  have  been 
fruitless.  It  was  not  in  words,  as  words  ;  nut  on  the 
line-upon-line  principle ;  not  in  a  more  perfect  rule 
of  life;  not  in  a  creed,  correct  to  an  iota  in  every 
detail, — but  in  a  divine,  yet  human,  personality,  love 
incarnate,  truth  incarnate,  purity  and  moral  ])erfect- 
ness  incarnate,  "bone  of  our  bone,  and  flesh  of  our 
flesh,"  yet  he  did  no  evil,  neither  was  guile  found  in 
his  mouth.  The  divine  purpose  from  the  beginning 
is  to  be  realized  through  an  ideal  manhood,  the  per- 


158  THE  PROPHETS  :   THE  CHRIST  : 

fected  Adam,  from  whom  and  in  whom  we  have 
everlasting  life. 

We  emphasize  the  answer.  The  revelation  in 
Christ  is  not  in  words  as  words,  but  in  a  divine  per- 
sonality, and  a  power  residing  in  that  personality  ade- 
quate to  our  redemption,  and  this  power  transmissi- 
ble to  us — ^yet  even  in  his  words,  as  the  best  expres- 
sion of  that  personality  to  the  centuries  far  forward — 
even  in  his  words,  higher  than  prophetic,  higher  than 
apostolic,  higher  than  all  possible  human  words,  as  the 
most  perfect  exponent  of  the  moral  power,  imma- 
nent and  transcendent,  that  shall  stamp  out  evil 
forever. 
[\^/«-*uJ^i    It  is  in  human  accents  that  he   speaks,  but  his 

' words  are  the  words  of   God,  pure   and  undefiled. 

The  fountain  of  wisdom  whence  they  come  is  the 
same  that  lay  behind  the  inspiration  of  the  prophets. 
But  their  organs  at  the  best  were  imperfect — their 
organs  of  perception  and  their  organs  of  expression 
alike.  They  saw  dimly.  They  spake  feebly.  They 
could  not  adequately  translate  for  us  the  high  thoughts 
of  God  into  human  speech.  But  he  could,  and  he 
/  has.  "  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
'  spirit,  and  they  are  life."  Yet  not  the  words,  as 
mere  words ;  but  as  they  become  through  the  grace 
of  the  Spirit  the  principle  of  a  new  existence,  the 
children  of  Adam  becoming  children  of  God. 

Who  and  what  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  tow- 
ering personality  of  Christ  were  the  apostles?  On 
a  higher  plane  than  the  prophets  surely,  but  subor- 
dinate   to   the    chief    revelation.      Their   work   was 


f)Xy  A/#^"^    <-^-^  ^  c^Juw-c^ 


THE  APOSTLES.  159 

glorious,  but  it  was  secondary.  He  did  work  such  as 
none  other  man  did,  and  tliej  were  his  witnesses.  It 
was  his  words  fhat  they  rehearsed  to  the  world.  It  was 
his  life  in  all  its  phases  that  they  described.  It 
was  his  victory  over  sin  and  death  by  dying  himself 
that  they  celebrated  in  all  the  world. 

The  message  of  the  prophets  was  prospective,  of 
the  glory  that  should  follow ;  that  of  the  apostles 
retrospective,  of  the  perfected  glory  of  Christ.  The 
one  class  pointed  forward  and  the  other  back,  but 
both  to  one  higher  than  themselves.  The  one  said, 
*'  He  Cometh,"  the  other,  "  He  came."  "  That  which 
was  from  the  beginning,  that  which  we  have  heard, 
that  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  that  which  we 
beheld  and  our  hands  have  handled  of  the  woid  of 
life  (for  life  was  manifested,  and  we  have  seen,  and 
bear  witness,  and  declare  unto  you  the  life,  the  eter- 
nal life  which  was  with  the  Father  and  was  manifested 
unto  us),  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  declare 
we  unto  you." 

A  goodly  and  blessed  work  was  that  of  the  apos- 
tles, an  indispensable  work,  and  for  its  accomplishment 
inspiration  was  indispensable.  For  the  ultimate  divine 
purpose  was  not  exhausted  in  the  incarnation,  nor  in 
the  life,  the  gracious  deeds,  the  suffering,  the  resur- 
rection, the  ascension  of  our  Saviour.  All  these  were 
means  to  an  end.  The  power  for  salvation  was  there, 
but  it  must  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  world. 
Through  them  he  sent  forth  his  message  of  salvation 
to  the  remotest  age.  But  they  always  spoke  in  his 
name,  referred  to  his  authority  as  supreme,  and  knew 


'/ 


160  THE  PROPHETS  :  THE  CHRIST. 

nothing  but  Christ,  they  his  servants,  and  he  their 
Master  and  their  Lord. 

We  have  the  answer  to  our  question,  and  shall  use 
it  presently.  The  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  the  Mes- 
siah differs  from  all  other,  not  only  in  degree,  but  in 
quality  and  kind.  Prophets  and  apostles  had  noth- 
ing but  what  they  received  from  him.  He  filled 
them  with  all  they  could  contain,  with  all  and  more 
than  they  could  impart.  But  he  withheld  vast  treas- 
ures  to  be  bestowed  immediately,  everywhere  and  al- 
ways, without  prophetic  or  apostolic  intervention, 
upon  those  who  come  humbly  to  his  feet. 


XIX. 

THE  DISCKIMINATIYE  DEFINITION  IN 

PAET. 

Here  where  it  is  most  needed  let  us  have  before  us 
an  important  conclusion  we  have  reached.  The  char- 
acter and  purpose  of  the  rev^elation  must  ever  furnish 
the  definitTon  an^  measurement  of  the  divine  energyi 
that  produced  it.  The  supernatural  causation  will  be' 
substituted  for  the  natural  only  so  far  as  shall  be  in- 
dispensable to  the  proposed  moral,  effect. 

In  supplying  niaterial  for  a  creed  or  confession,  ac- 
cordmg  to  the  modern  idea  of  the  necessary  perfect- 
ness  in  all  minor  details  of  these  boundary  lines  be- 
tween different  bodies  of  Christians,  great  precision 
is  necessary.  Almost  verbal  inspiration  migM  be 
rec[uisite  in  some  places  of  extreme  difficulty,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  matters  abstract  and  meta- 
physical, in  order  to  secure  language  that  could  not 
be  misconceived. 

Yet  even  here  there  are  very  few  truths,  none  per- 
haps of  special  importance,  which  might  not  be  stated 
in  various  language  without  danger  of  misconception. 
As  a  notorious  fact,  in  places  where  definiteness  would 
seem  to  be  most  important  for  confessional  purposes, 
as  for  instance,  in  connection  with  points  of  doctrine 
which  divide  the  Christian  Church  into  sects,  there  is 

(161) 


162  INSPIRATION. 

room  for  honest  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  the 
Scriptures  that  relate  to  them  mean. 

But  in  impressing  a  moral  lesson  by  historic  inci- 
dent, in  reaching  the  conscience,  in  moving  the  deeper 
religious  sensibilities  which  stimulate  and  energize 
the  will — which  we  have  found  to  be  the  principal 
purpose  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  the  Scriptures — 
verbal  inspiration  could  not  be  required.  As  for 
moral  impression  by  historic  statement,  fiction  is 
nearly  as  good  as  fact,  or  we  should  have  no  parables. 
For  any  ordinary  use,  the  honest  effort  to  ascertain 
the  facts,  and  their  statement  with  truthful  purpose, 
is  accepted  as  sufficient,  even  if  some  minor  details 
are  thought  doubtful. 

Our  examination  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible  in 
their  diversity,  and  of  the  great  variety  of  circum- 
stances and  characteristics  of  human  existence  to 
which  they  relate,  has  prepared  us  for  a  definition 
less  compact,  rigid,  and  inflexible  than  those  which 
Systematic  Theology  usually  requires  and  produces. 

The  inflexible  definitions  that  confine  the  infinite 
Spirit  of  God  within  our  narrow  human  measure- 
ments,— saying  to  him.  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go, 
and  no  farther, — are  to  be  studiously  avoided.  He 
is  ever  transcending  the  limitations  we  assign  to  him, 
casting  off  the  trammels,  asserting  his  liberty  in  the 
most  practical  way,  and  putting  our  sagacity  to  shame. 

The  following  definition  is  intentionally  copious. 
It  has  been  made  so  comprehensive  as  to  include  the 
whole  concrete  result  of  inspiration  exhibited  in  the 
Sacred  Books,  that  is,  the  whole  content  and  sub- 


/I      r4.    ^  '.        DISCRIMINATIVE  DEFINITION.  16;^ 

stance  of  Biblical  Theology.  Having  the  material 
spread  ont  before  ns  in  its  amplitude,  it  may  be  easy 
for  any  one  so  inclined  to  reduce  its  dimensions  by 
omitting  whatever  he  thinks  least  important  to  strict 
definition,  in  accordance  with  the  tendency  of  the 
more  scholastic  theological  systems  to  philosophical 
abstraction.  But  the  practical  design  of  this  essay 
carries  us  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Inspiration  is  a  special  energy  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  selected  and  pre- 
pared humam.  agents  lohich  does  not  obstruct  nor 
impair  their  native  and  normal  activities^  nor  mi- 
raculously enlarge  the  boundaries  of  their  knowledge, 
except  where  essential  to  the  inspiring  purpose;  hut 
/  stimulates  and  assists  them  to  the  clear  discernment 
and  faithful  totterance  of  truth  and  fact,  and  when 
necessary  brings  loithin  their  range^  truth  or  fact 
which  could  not  otherioise  have  been  known.  By  such 
direction  and  aid,  through  spoken  or  written  words,  in 
combination,  with  any  divinely  ordered  circiomstances 
with  which  they  may  be  historically  interwoven,  the  .j .. 
result  contemplated  in  the  purpose  of  God  is  realized 
in  a  progressive  revelation  of  his  wisdom,  righteous- 
ness, and  grace  for  the  instruction  and  moral  eleva- 
tion of  men.  The  revelation  so  jproduced  is  per- 
manent and  infallible  for  all  matters  of  faith  and 
practice  j'  except  so  far  as  any  given  revelation 
may  be  manifestly  partial,  provisional,  and  limited 
in  its  time  and  conditions,  or  may  be  afterwards 
modified  or  superseded  by  a  higher  and  fuller  revela- 
tion, adapted  to  an  advanced  period  in  the  redemp- 


164  INSPIRATION. 

tive  process  to  which  all  revelation  relates  as  its  final 
end  and  glorious  consummation. 

It  is  on  the  a  posteriori  principle  that  we  have 
been  working.  In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have 
attempted  a  survey  of  the  whole  ground,  noting  the 
characteristic  phenomena  of  the  collection  of  books 
called  Holy  Scripture,  referring  to  the  salient  points 
and  most  remarkable  facts,  and  at  last  summed  them 
up  in  what  we  have  now  given.  There  is  not  a  point 
that  had  not  been  provided  for  in  the  preceding  exhibit. 

Yet  full  as  the  definition  is,  it  needs  supplementing, 
and  the  supplement  also  has  been  anticipated.  It 
lies  very  near,  and  we  must  have  it  if  we  would  un- 
derstand the  subject  in  its  breadth,  and  must  use  it 
for  our  final  relief.  Confusion  might  result  from  an 
endeavor  to  include  it  in  the  same  formula.  Its 
proper  place  is  close  alongside,  where  we  can  pass 
easily  from  one  to  the  other.  We  shall  find  our  way 
to  it  presently. 

The  above  definition  in  its  reference  to  "  progress- 
ive revelation"  and  human  development,  is  intended 
to  provide  for  disclosures  of  truth  suited  to  the 
stage  of  moral  and  spiritual  growth  that  had  been 
reached  when  it  was  made.  The  inspiring  energy 
did  not  confer  omniscience,  and  did  not  lift  its  sub- 
jects so  far  above  the  plane  of  thought  that  charac- 
terized their  age  as  to  be  out  of  touch  with  it. 

Our  conception  admits  that  together  with  the 
clearer  apprehension  and  higher  moral  tone  that 
resulted  from  the  supernatural  quickening  of  his 
faculties,  enabling  the  prophet  at  times  to  discover 


DISCRIMINATIVE  DEFINITION.  165 

truth  before  unrevealed,  a  coinmiiigling  of  human 
misconception  was  suffered  to  remain  till  the  time 
should  come  for  further  disclosure.  The  revelation 
that  could  at  first  be  apprehended  by  human  capacity 
was  of  a  very  low  grade.  As  imperfectly  appropri- 
ated, it  might  give  rise  to  deeds  of  loyalty  to  the 
divine  will,  expressing  savage  detestation  of  heathen- 
ism, that  seem  shocking  to  us,  and  impossible  to 
reconcile  with  the  highest  moral  excellence.  This  is 
the  revelation  which  the  definition  refers  to  as  "  par- 
tial, provisional,  and  limited  to  its  own  time."  Of 
the  test  by  which  this  may  be  determined  we  shall 
speak  presently. 

It  is  often  asserted  most  positively  in  controversy 
with  those  who  refer  discriminati  vely  to  different  parts 
of  the  Bible,  assigning  a  higher  value  to  the  later 
than  to  the  earlier  revelation,  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, as  well  as  the  Kew,  is  perfect  and  infallible  in 
its    minutest    details.      The    highest    inspiration    is  (Jy' 
^laimed  equally  for  every  part.     But  who  can  say   ^  ^i^ 
intelligently,  in  this  sweeping  sense,  that  the  entire    rv^u^ 
Bible,  for  all  time  is  "  the  perfect  and  infallible  rule  ^^  <^i-*-^ 
of  faith  and  practice,"  or  any  one  Book  in  the  Old  ^  ^'f^^ 
Testament?     To  press  this  familiar  statement  from 
the  Confession  against  those  who  find  serious  imper- 
fections in  the  earlier  Scriptures,  is  mere  jugglery  of 
words.     No  one  who  uses  it  against  others  as  con- 
demnatory, believes  it  himself  of  the  Old  Testament 
apart  from  the  New.     If  we  would  avoid  confusion 
of  thought,  nothing  is  more  important  than  reason- 
able discrimination. 


XX. 

THE  DEFINITION  COMPLETED  AND  THE 
FINAL   TEST. 

We  shall  not  have  fulfilled  our  proposed  task 
until  we  have  reached  a  satisfactory  conclusion  for 
disturbed  minds  with  regard  to  the  varying  degrees^ 
of  certainty  in  the  Bible  which  the  foregoing  defini- 
tion assumes.  This  may  mean,  in  the  estimation  of 
many,  uncertainty  everywhere,  interminable  per- 
plexity whenever  they  open  the  Bible. 

They  may  feel  obliged  to  accept  our  conclusions, 
as  apparently  founded  on  a  correct  view  of  its  char- 
acter and  contents.  Nevertheless  they  are  distressed, 
and  almost  wish  they  had  been  left  in  their  previous 
contentment.  They  had  supposed  it  was  all  holy 
ground,  and  they  might  plant  their  foot  firmly  in  all 
its  borders.  But  now  they  shall  fear  quagmires  and 
quicksands  at  every  step.  The  thought  of  this  is 
almost  enough  to  engulf  them  in  John  Banyan's 
allegorical  Slough  of  Desjpond,  Even  a  "  Thus- 
saith-the-Lord "  seems  to  be  no  guarantee  against 
principally  human  derivation,  and  a  consequent 
impairment  of  the  divine  thought.  This  is  even 
worse  than  impairment  by  copyists  or  translators. 
"  Where  are  we,"  they  ask,  '*  and  where,  if  anywhere, 
shall  we  find  safety  %  " 
(166) 


THE  DEFINITION  COMPLETED.  167 

We  should  not  have  commenced  this  work,  if  we 
could  not,  anticipating  such  questions,  have  furnished 
a  reply  that  shall  more  than  renew  their  former 
confidence.  While  we  have  appeared  to  be  doing 
harm,  we  shall  have  done  immeasurable  good. 

Is  there  anything  in  the  Bible, — it  seems  a  strange 
question,  but  we  must  ask  it, — that  is  not  inspired  ? 
We  do  not  refer  to  language  attributed  to  Satan  or 
to  evil-minded  men.  There  is  plenty  of  that.  But 
look  in  the  opposite  direction.  Are  there  statements 
or  communications  sujperior  to  anything  to  be 
thought  of  as  insj)ired  '\  If  we  hesitate,  he  that 
how  speaketh  to  us  from  heaven  himself  shall  give 
answer,  and  his  words  are  faithful  and  true :  "  Who- 
soever drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  never  thirst ;  hut  the  water  that  I  shall  give 
hhn  shall  become  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing 
up  unto  eternal  lifeP 

Is  it  asked  again,  "  How  shall  I  find  my  way  to 
the  fountain  of  truth,  that  drinking  I  may  live  for- 
ever?" Again  the  answer — this  also  is  in  the  first 
person  singular,  and  is  decisive:  "/  am  the  %vay^ 
and  the  truth,  and  the  life  /  no  one  cometh  to  the 
Father  hut  through  m^." 

We  are  now  ready  for  an  emphatic  statement, 
supplementary  to  our  definition.  It  was  not  long 
enough. 

No  proposed  definition  of  God^s  inspiring  grace 
can  he  accepted  as  complete  unless  it  has  heen  formu- 
lated (1)  in  the  light  of  the  grand  central  truth  in 
which  inspiration  and  revelation  alike  culminate^ 


168  INSPIRATION. 

that  Jesus  Christ  as  a  person,  "  the  Only-hegotten  of 
the  Father, ^'^  is  the  final,  perfect,  and  the  only  perfect 
revelation  of  God  to  men  /  and  (2)  with  due  regard 
5i-,  '^-  ^^  ^^^  radical  difference  hetween  the  words  of  Christ, 
who  is  himself  the  truth,  and  those  of  all  inspired 
teachers,  as  hetween  the  primary  and  every  secondary 
source  of  divine  hnowledge  and  authority. 

To  this  must  be  added  a  companion  sentence  that 
leads  us  one  step  further  in  the  attempted  recon- 
struction. Both  have  been  provided  for  in  preceding 
chapters. 

(1)  All  historic,  prophetic,  and  didactic  revelation 
of  God  hi  the  inspired  BooTis  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  is  inferior  and  subordinate  to  his  revela- 
tion of  personal  truth  and  grace  in  the  Christ  of  the 
historic  Gospels  /  and  (2)  whatsoever  the  former 
may  contain  thai  is  incongruous  ihei^ewith,  whatever 
he  the  explanation  of  the  incongruity,  is  not  to  he 
held  as  authoritative  for  us,  hut  is  virtually  super- 
I  seded,  as  an  imperfect  and  provisional  inspiration. 

Shall  we  put  one  more  question  growing  out  of 
the  uncertainty  of  merely  human  sources,  even  if 
inspired,  and  test  his  ability  to  answer?  There  can 
be  no  jugglery  here.  We  have  found  one  who  can 
probe  the  depths  of  our  hearts,  while  he  reveals  to 
us  the  heart  of  God.     We  may  ask  confidently  : 

How  may  one  know  beyond  doubt  that  the  words 
of  Christ  recorded  in  the  Gospels  actually  contain  the 
living  truth  he  is  in  search  of? 

The  ready  answer  comes,  and  indeed  it  is  probing : 
"  He  that  will  do  his  will  shall  Tcnoio  the  teaching, 


I 


THE  DEFINITION  COMPLETED.  169 

whether  it  he  of  God^  or  whether  I  have  spoken  of 
myself r 

It  depends,  then,  upon  ourselves,  and  suggests  the 
heart-searching  question.  Do  I  give  myself  up  abso- 
lutely to  the  control  of  God,  sincerely  desiring  to  do 
his  will,  if  I  may  only  know  it?  Then  shall  we  know 
the  truth,  and  sliall  be  prepared  to  say,  '''  Lord,  to 
whom  shall  we  go  ?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal 
life,  and  we  believe  and  know  that  thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God." 

If  this  surrender  is  thorough  and  unreserved,  our 
trouble  is  ended.  No  clouds  and  darkness  henceforth 
— no  fog- banks  intercepting  the  divine  light — no 
quicksands  and  quagmires.  We  go  forward  with  un- 
faltering step.  We  shall  walk  in  the  light  as  God  is 
in  the  light,  shall  have  fellowship  one  with  another, 
and  the  blood  of  Jesus  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all 
sin.  Verily  we  have  found  an  highway,  a  royal  road, 
on  which  the  sun  always  shines.  It  leads  up  to  "  the 
city  whose  gates  are  of  pearl,  and  its  streets  of  pure 
gold,  an  1  which  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of 
the  moon  to  shine  upon  it,  for  the  glory  of  God  doth 
lighten  it  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof." 

The  riddles  that  have  embarrassed  us  shall  all  be 
solved  now,  or  those  which  we  cannot  or  need  not 
solve,  we  shall  be  able  to  cast  aside  as  frivolous,  or 
will  class  them  with  "  the  secret  things  that  belong 
unto  the  Lord  our  God,"  and  be  perfectly  content. 
It  is  all  in  his  hands,  and  some  things  we  can  take 
upon  trust.  Enough  for  us  that  in  all  matters  of  im- 
portance our  doubts  shall  be  dissipated  forever. 


170  INSPIRATION. 

We  have  been  troubled  about  Old  Testament  rev- 
elation, its  alleged  uncertainties,  inaccuracies,  and  con- 
tradictions, and  even  about  some  things  more  distress- 
ing, enormities  that  make  our  blood  run  cold  as  we 
read  of  them.  And  some  earnest  souls  are  kept  back 
from  the  central  truth  by  the  antecedent  revelation 
with  its  historic  and  moral  perplexities.  May  we  not 
avoid  them,  at  least  for  the  present,  until  we  can  re- 
turn to  them  more  safely  ? 

The  Old  Testament  is  supposed  to  be  the  porch  to 

the  New,  its  only  proper  entrance.     This  is  all  very 

well  for  those  who  lived  before  the  coming  of  Christ. 

•They  might  find  their  way  to  him,  at  least  prospect- 

^,^A>C  lively,  through  the  previous  inspiration.     They  could 

^Jrt^t.  f  (Jo  jjQ  better. 

N  (  But  we  now  living  did  not  enter  upon  our  earthly 

existence  under  such  limitations,  and  may  approach 
him  directly.  It  is  vastly  better  than  coming  to  him 
through  tortuous  passages  with  uncertain  glimmer  of 
light,  and  sometimes  questionable  footing.  It  is  our 
privilege,  Jew  or  Gentile,  founded  upon  our  historic 
position,  to  go  straight  to  the  divine  Master's  feet,  and 
to  ask  all  the  questions  we  wish.  He  has  ascended  on 
high,  but  not  beyond  our  call.  We  need  not  go  a  pil- 
grimage even  to  Judea  in  order  to  find  him.  For 
he  said  while  yet  here :  ''If  any  man  love  me,  he 
will  Tceep  mjy  words  /  and  my  Father  will  love  Mm, 
and  we  will  come  imto  him,  and  m,ake  our  abode 
with  himP  And  perhaps  he  has  left  with  us  an- 
swers to  our  questions  that  will  give  us  rest. 

A  year  or  two  ago  we  came  upon  a  remarkable 


THE  DEFINITION  COMPLETED.  171 

book :  "  The  great  discourse  of  Jesus,  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God.  A  topical  arrangement  and  analysis  of 
all  his  words,  recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  sepa- 
rated from  the  Context."*  The  compiler,  a  layman 
eminent  in  culture  and  position,  has  suppressed  his 
own  name.  This  may  have  been  desired  thus  to  give 
himself  more  freedom  in  relating  his  personal  experi- 
ence in  a  prefacing  Apolo<jia. 

His  work  is  well  done.  His  classification  of  the 
material  of  our  Saviour's  discourses  is  intelligent  and 
faithful.  It  will  convince  many  that  the  teachings  of 
our  Lord  are  much  more  comprehensive  than  they 
had  supposed,  and  of  greater  value  than  all  prophetic 
and  apostolic  inspiration  combined. 

In  the  above  mentioned  Apologia  he  speaks  of  the 
work  as  the  outcome  of  his  own  search  after  spirit 
and  life,  the  results  of  which  were  so  satisfactory  as  to 
induce  the  hope  that  it  might  be  of  use  beyond  his 
own  personal  need.  We  introduce  this  individual  ex- 
perience in  illustration  of  the  possibility  that  every 
disturbed  soul  may  attain  peace  and  rest  by  the 
method  we  have  already  indicated. 

He  describes  his  early  condition  in  the  following 
sentences :  "  At  middle  life  I  found  myself  without  a 
creed, — a  Christian  neither  in  faith  or  work,  out  of 
sympathy  with  Christian  ethics  as  adapted  to  the  use 
of  modern  society,  and  deeply  antagonistic  to  organic 

Christianity  as  manifested  in  the  Church I  was 

drifting  rapidly  away  from  the  religious  traditions  of 

my  youth,  flying  no  flag,  yet  nut  prepared  to  cast 

overboard  the  banner  of  the  Cross,  my  course  dark- 

*  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  «&  Co.,  New  York,  1893. 


172  INSPIRATION. 

ened  bj  speculative  doubts,  and  the  philosophic  craft, 
such  as  it  was,  in  which  I  had  embarked  mj  soul  bat- 
tered by  continual  and  bitter  tempests." 

But  at  last  he  summoned  courage  to  escape  from 
the  conflict  and  suffering :  "  There  came  a  time,  how- 
ever, that  I  felt  that  I  must  get  my  bearings  and 
know  plainly  where  I  lay  with  reference  to  the  God 
of  my  youth, — his  dealings  with  me  and  mine  with 
him, — or  that  I  must  face,  godless  and  alone,  that 
gray,  awful  waste  of  waters  whose  horizon  is  eternity, 
with  no  polestar  in  the  infinite  night,  and  no  hope  of 
a  haven  at  anytime.  To  live  longer  in  such  a  state 
was  neither  honest  nor  tolerable.  Far  better  to  utterly 
renounce, — if  so  be  I  must,  even  though  the  renun- 
ciation stripped  bare, — than  cling  against  conviction 
to  a  sentiment,  however  consoling,  enshrined  in  a 
fable,  however  beautiful,  for  fear  of  the  desolation 
that  would  follow  its  loss." 

Of  two  things  he  presently  became  convinced :  the 
first,  that  he  knew  very  little  of  the  bearing  and  im- 
port of  Christ's  teaching ;  the  second,  that  his  mental 
attitude  towards  Christ  had  relation  almost  entirely 
to  the  historical  and  phj^sical  phenomena  of  his 
life,  and  not  to  the  divine  element  which  it  mani- 
fested. And  further  that  in  rationalistic  assaults 
upon  Christianity  the  line  of  attack  was  necessarily 
over  the  same  field.  ''  The  assault  was  ever  upon  the 
man-Christ,  upon  the  supposition  that  that  once  de- 
stroyed, the  God-Christ  of  necessity  disappeared ; 
'whereas  it  now  began  to  occur  to  me  that  the  God- 
Christ  loomed  infinitely  out  of  range,  and  could  be 


THE  DEFINITION  COMPLETED.  173 

reached   by  no  bullet  of  logic,  or  of  empirical  syn- 
thesis, and  that  once  apprehended,  the  man-Christ 
became   invulnerable."    .    ..."  I  therefore    made 
up  my  mind  to  acquaint  myself  with  Christ's  doc- 
trine in  his  own  words,  apart  from  any  consideration  ^       . 
of  the  narrative  context,  taking  it  directly  from  the^i^^*V^ 
lips  of  the   Master,  and  meditating  upon  it  in  the  ^^^>^/7l 
quiet  of  my  own  soul,  tree  from  the  noise  of  con-  f?'^'  ^. 

troversy,  theological  or  rational To  us  who 

have  not  lived  in  the  wondrous  aura  of  the  spiritual 
life  that  radiated  from  his  wondrous  personality,  who 
cannot  drink  from  his  lips,  nor  look  into  the  infinite 
depths  of  his  eyes,  the  closest  touch  must  lie  in  the 
words  that  were  spoken  for  us,  and  for  all  time  to 
come, — the  body  in  which  he  still  lives  for  us,  and 
which  he  knew  must  satisfy  our  hunger  and  thirst 
for  truth." 

And  so,  finding  truth  and  life  in  Christ,  he  came 
forth  from  perplexity  and  peril  into  the  light  of  God. 


XXI. 

THE  FINAL  TEST— CONTINUED. 

In  ocean  travel  a  vessel  is  liable  to  be  driven  aside 
by  counter  currents  and  adverse  winds  the  effects  of 
v\^hicli  the  mariner  may  not  observe  till  he  finds  him- 
self on  a  lee  shore,  with  the  roar  of  the  breakers  in 
his  ears,  and  sail  power  and  steam  are  alike  nnavail- 
ing.  It  is  said  that  an  air-ship,  rising  above  the  lower 
atmosphere  in  which  it  would  be  driven  wildly  along, 
the  sport  of  tierce  and  threatening  blasts,  will  ascend 
into  a  serene  stratum  above  the  clouds,  where  the  sun 
is  always  shining,  and  steady,  gentle  breezes  are  ever 
bearing  in  one  invariable  direction,  and  those  who 
shape  the  course  may  lay  it  toward  the  point  that 
shall  best  accomplish  the  object  of  the  voyage  and 
bring  them  to  their  haven  in  safety.  It  may  be  an 
unproved  theory,  but  it  will  serve  for  illustration. 

The  suggestion  in  our  quotations  in  the  last  chap- 
ter is  similar, — that  in  order  to  reach  the  ultimate, 
satisfying  truth, — that  is,  to  reach  God, — we  may 
avoid  embarrassment,  conflict,  and  the  danger  of  final 
disappointment  and  despair,  by  going  directly  to  the 
lieai't  of  Christ,  which  is  the  heart  of  God,  for  He 
said,  "  1  and  the  Father  are  one.'^'' 

For  the  time  being  we  look  only  Christ-ward,  and 
(174) 


THE  FINAL  TEST.  17.t 

tind  relief  from  the  perplexity  produced  by  the 
crudities  and  obscurities  of  a  preparatory  and  pro- 
visional inspiration, — one  that  took  men  in  ignorance, 
sensuality,  and  barbarism,  and  did  for  them  what  it 
could  at  the  time.  We  leave  all  that  behind,  ^o 
distortions,  exaggerations,  or  suggestions  of  improb- 
ability, materialistic  or  metaph^^sical,  confront  us  here. 
We  are  upon  higher  ground,  where  those  who  deal 
in  such  objections  to  revealed  truth  are  too  shrewd  to 
in:i^^erfere  with  us.  With  regard  to  the  truths  we 
meet  here,  with  affectation  of  superior  wisdom  they 
call  themselves  agnostics.  They  have  to  decline  any 
direct  and  positive  opposition.  It  is  an  atmosphere 
they  cannot  breathe.  They  hear  a  language  they  do 
not  understand,  w^hich  appeals  to  faculties  they  con- 
sciously do  not  possess.  So  with  vision  undiverted 
and  undisturbed  we  behold  the  truth  and  the  life 
issuing  from  the  lips  and  throbbing  in  the  ]julses  of 
the  Son  of  God.  We  drink  in  the  w^ords  of  w^hich 
he  who  uttered  them  said,  "  They  are  spirit,  and 
they  are  life^ 

Where  is  Moses,  and  where  are  the  Levite  and  the 
priest?  Where  is  David  with  his  songs,  and  where 
are  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  with  their  glowing  visions? 
Where  even  are  Paul  and  John  ?  .  They  spake  con- 
cerning the  truth,  as  "  they  w^ere  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  and  are  to  be  honored  as  living  oracles  of 
God.  But  he  is  the  truth,  the  truth  incarnate,  per- 
sonal. They  receive  witness  of  men,  that  their  writ- 
ings are  not  fiction,  and  the  evidence  adduced  may  be 
met  by  plausible  contradiction.    We  may  not  receive 


^^17G  INSPIRATION. 

their  words  till  they  are  satisfactonly  attested.  But 
he  needs  no  witness  of  men,  and  his  words  sink  into 
hearts  by  their  own  intrinsic  weight.  "  He  that 
helieveth  hath  the  witness  in  himself  ^^  '^  I  am  the 
light  of  the  world.  He  that  helieveth  in  me  shall  not 
ivalk  in  darkness^  hut  shall  have  the  light  of  life.'''' 
What  prophet  or  apostle  could  say  that, — feeble 
taper  that  he  is  even  at  his  brightest  shining  ? 

But  what  proof  have  we  that  the  words  recorded 
ever  passed  from  his  lips  ?  Why,  from  what  source 
could  they  have  proceeded,  save  his  unique  person- 
ality, in  which  the  most  exquisite  human  sympathy 
is  blended  with  divine  knowledge,  compassion,  and 
power  ?  Who  but  he  who  "  knew  what  was  in  man  " 
could  so  strike  the  chords  that  thrill  all  human  hearts 
with  the  deepest,  purest,  and  most  controlling  emo- 
tions? Human  reason  and  invention  stand  bewil- 
dered before  tlie  majesty,  sweetness,  and  power  of 
his  sentences, — cannot  sound  their  unfathomable 
depths, — can  only  talk  in  a  confused  way  of  the  his- 
toric antecedents  or  accompaniments  in  the  same 
volume,  as  being  here  and  there  improbable,  contra- 
dictory, or  perhaps  morally  objectionable. 

What  care  we  ?  His  words  ar*e  the  cream  and  es- 
sence— the  quintessence  and  soul  of  all  truth, — food 
for  immortal  spirits.  They  exalt,  they  strengthen, 
they  enlarge,  they  purify,  they  inspire  confidence 
and  hope,  they  scatter  the  mists,  and  peace  such  as 
the  world  cannot  give — the  peace  that  passeth  all 
understanding — takes  permanent  possession  of  our 
hearts. 


THE  FINAL  TEST.  177 

The  historical  investiture  may  have  suffered  some- 
what through  the  imperfection  of  human  instruments 
of  record.  Material  information  that  mio^ht  have 
removed  all  difficulty  may  have  been  omitted.  Many 
of  us  are  ignorant  and  helpless  in  argument  against 
trained  and  skillful  objectors, — as  helpless  as  the 
blind  man  in  the  hands  of  Pharisaic  tormentors  who 
could  only  say,  "  One  thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I 
was  blind,  now  I  see."  What  other  thing  did  he 
need  to  know,  or  what  dfd  he  care  for,  in  comparison 
with  this, — he  that  now  for  the  first  time  beheld  the 
light  of  the  sun, — and  who  could  convince  him  that 
he  was  laboring  under  a  delusion  ? 

But  can  we  rely,  some  OTie  may  persist  in  asking, 
upon  these  words  in  the  Gospel  as  really  his  own  ? 
He  will  himself  answer:  "But  the  Comforter,  which 
is  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  Father  will  send  unto 
you,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things 
to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto 
you."  And  then  we  try  them  intrinsically,  as  he 
invited  us,  and  we  find  them  a  specific,  a  panacea. 
There  are  healing,  soundness,  and  life  in  them,  and 
we  dwell  in  peace.  Objections  on  lower  ground  are 
idle  and  wasted  breath.  The  ground  of  our  convic- 
tion they  do  not  even  touch.  We  might  afibrd, 
although  we  will  not,  to  give  up  miracles,  to  give  up 
inspiration,  to  give  up  historic  confirmation,  as  men 
give  odds  at  games  of  strength  and  skill,  and  should 
abide  in  confidence  and  win  the  day.  "  Evidence 
of  Christianity,"  said  a  man  of  deep  thought,  "  evi- 
dence of  Christianity ;  make  a  man  feel  the  want  of 


178  INSPIRATION. 

it,  rouse  him  to  the  self-knowledge  of  his  need  of  it, 
and  you  may  safely  trust  it  to  its  own  evidence." 

We  have  made  above,  somewhat  separately,  two 

points  that  are  of  the  first  importance  and  ever  to 

be  remembered.      The  first  is,  that  he  who   came 

>  from  heaven  to  identify  himself  with  men  gave  his 

I  personal  assurance  that  his  words  should  be  correctly 

^  j  reported.     Through  his  Holy  Spirit,  the  revealer  of 

I  truth,  he  w^ould  look  after  this  matter  himself.     The 

second  is,   that   he   ascribed    to   his   own    words    a 

special  potency,  a  spirit  and  life,  by  which  they  should 

be  distinguished  to  the  inmost  consciousness  of  him 

w^ho  receives  them  in  humble  faith,  from  all  others. 

They  should   be  a  revelation   of   the   Son   of  God 

within  him.*     Their  spirit  and  life  should  become 

elements  in  his  being,  enabling  him  to  say,  "  It  is 

no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me :  and 

the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  faith, 

the  faith  which  is  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved 

me,  and  gave  himself  for  me."  f 

We  reverse,  then,  the  usual  order  of  suggestion, 
for  those  who  are  painfully  anxious  to  know  whether 
in  this  Bible  we  have  the  saving  word  of  God.  We 
do  not  ask  a  man  to  satisfy  himself  by  careful  study 
with  innumerable  preliminaries  in  an  older  revela- 
tion, some  of  which  are  adapted  to  times  and  cir- 
cumstances into  which  we  cannot  transport  ourselves, 
the  nature  and  needs  of  w^hich  we  cannot  compre- 
hend, and  which  have  suffered  we  know  not  how 

*  Gal.  i.  16.  t  Gal.  ii.  20. 


THE  FINAL  TEST.  170 

much  from  the  ravages  of  time,  and  the  ignorance  or 
presumption  of  men,  sometimes  pious  and  well- 
meaning.  What  care  we  for  such  a  revelation, 
although  otherwise  of  immense  interest  and  value, 
in  comparison  with  "  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ''  as 
we  now  gaze  upon  it?  We  have  found  him  of 
whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  wrote,  we  hear  his 
words,  and  in  them  we  discover  the  heart  of  God  as 
our  Almighty  Father  and  everlasting  Friend.  We 
know  the  truth,  and  it  has  made  us  free  indeed,  and 
free  forever. 

lu  this  conviction  we  are  ready  now  for  the  Old 
Testament.  We  may  be  reasonably  asked  by  any 
inquirer  after  truth.  If  the  Bible  was  given  by  in- 
spiration of  the  Spirit,  and  contains  great  thoughts; 
of  God,  of  imperishable  value,  and  yet  is  full  of  im- 
perfections, how  shall  I  discriminate  between  the  bet- 
ter and  the  worse  ?  If,  besides  the  divine  truth  that 
it  embodies,  it  also  contains  partial  truths,  which  are 
sometimes  as  misleading  as  falsehood,  and  moral  in- 
conofruities  and  monstrosities  from  which  our  souls 
recoil,  how  shall  I  separate  the  gold  from  the  dross? 
By  the  use  of  my  reason^?  Would  you  have  me  be- 
come a  rationalist? 

Yes,  rather  than  be  a  sophist  or  a  simpleton.  Yes, 
a  thousand  times,  if  one  becomes  a  rationalist  by 
making  use  of  his  reason,  iiicluding  conscience  and 
every  spiritual  faculty  w^ith  which  God  has  endowed 
him,  strengthened  and  enlightened  by  the  word,  and 
life,  and  spirit  of  Christ.      Who  will  fling   a  gibe 


^ 


u 


180  INSPIRATION. 

at  us  for  such  rationalism — a  rationalism  that  verges 
so  closely  upon  Inspiration  ? 

This  is  the  final  and  decisive  test  of  all  utterances 
or  writings  known  among  men.  Having  the  princi- 
pal, central,  all-embracing  truth  embedded  in  our 
hearts,  "  we  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One  and 
know  all  things."  We  go  fearlessly,  therefore,  to 
the  old  inspiration,  approving  or  rejecting,  as  it  may 
be.  If  anything  agrees  not  with  these  words  of ) 
Christ  in  the  Gospels,  and  with  the  life  of  God  in- 
carnate, as  illustrating  his  words, — no  matter  how  it 
came  to  be  what  it  is,  no  niatter  to  whose  ignorance 
and  hardness  of  heart  it  may  have  been  adaptively 
lowered, — polygamy,  slavery,  revenge,  and  barbarity 
of  every  kind, — we  renounce  and  denounce  it  as  evil. 
Our  enlifi^htened  moral  instinct  reiectsit  unreservedlv 
and  forever.  Any  disciple  of  Christ  that  does  not 
speak  according  to  this  word  knows  not  what  spirit 
he  is  of.  Let  him  come  closer  to  Christ  in  his  perva- 
sive, effluent,  and  communicative  moral  purity.  Let 
him  take  John's  position,  pillowing  his  head  on  the 
Master's  bosom,  where  he  can  hear  his  faintest  whis- 
per and  feel  every  throb  of  his  pure,  tender,  and 
loving  heart,  and  he  will  come  to  a  better  mind. 
I  Yes,  this  is  the  final  and  decisive  test,  from  which 
there  can  be  no  appeal  to  a  higher  court,  and  we  offer 
it  as  a  relief  from  all  difficulty,  as  respects  the  princi- 
pal point  we  have  considered.  We  reaffirm  unfalter- 
ingly our  proposition,  as  the  most  incontestable  of 
i  moral  axioms,  that  whatsoever  in  the  Old  Testament 
\\revelation,  or  in  any  prof essed  revelation  from  God, 


THE  FINAL  TEST.  181 

is  not  in  accord  with  the  revelation  of  his  righteous- 
ness, or  purity,  or  love,  or  truth,  in  the  words  and 
life  of  Christ,  has  heen  annulled  and  superseded,  and 
is  practically  no  revelation  for  us.  '( 

There  can  be  no  nioditication  of  this  sweeping 
judgment.  It  must  stand  for  all  time,  challenging 
disproof  or  contradiction.  Yet  any  reasonable  relief 
that  may  be  possible  shall  be  cheerfully  accorded. 
We  must  not  be  misunderstood  for  a  moment.  And 
therefore  an  emphatic  restatement  of  earlier  thought 
may  be  suffered  together  with  some  additions.  v       ^ 

It  is  not  the  mutilation  of  the  Bible  that  we  sug-^O'^^V/  < 

gest,  as  if  all  enormities  should  be  stricken  from  the  /f^^^ 

record  of  fact.     Even  for  us  they  have  their  moral  -^  ^^ 

uses,  if  only  by  repulsion,  as  we  contrast  them  with  iU. 

the  higher  law  and  the  purer  morality  under  which 

we  are  livinc^.  ^ 

...  ^2L* 

They  have  also  severallj^  their  historic  accompani-    a\     y 

ment,  which  relieves  some  of  their  worst  features.  /..^  > 
If  we  sit  J2^  judgment,  in  any  given  instances  upon  '^.^j,^^, 
record,  upon  the  men,  whose  thoughts  and  practices 
were  so  far  below  the  standard  that  has  been  pre- 
scribed for  our  own  regulation  that  we  instinctively 
reprobate  them,  our  judgment  must  be  mitigated 
by  important  extenuating  circumstances,  which  are 
righteously  considered  in  every  court  of  justice  be- 
fore sentence  is  pronounced.  These  circumstances 
may  impart  a  different  aspect  both  to  their  own  con- 
duct and  to  the  divine  rule  under  which  was  permitted 
the  moral  evil  that  shocks  us.  Every  special  trans- 
action that  comes  under  review  is  part  of  an  extended 


182  INSPIRATION. 

narrative.  It  has  its  background,  and  its  foreground, 
— a  lower  morality  in  the  past,  and  a  higher  in  the 
future. 

This  semi-barbarous  people  had  their  moral  law. 
Whatever  may  have  been  its  imperfections,  it  was 
gradually  but  surely  regenerative.  It  was  educating 
their  conscience,  although  on  account  of  their  de- 
pressed moral  status  in  a  very  rude  way.  They  were 
in  a  low  form  in  the  school  of  their  divine  Teacher, 
but  they  were  in,  and  not  outside  of,  his  school. 
They  were  being  taught  that  men  were  so  far  above 
the  brutes  that  they  could  recognize  a  personal  God. 
They  enjoyed  the  dignity  of  being  persons.  They 
were  also  learning  that  they  were  morally  responsi- 
ble,— that  there  were  some  things  that  they  might 
not  do  without  incurring  the  displeasure  of  their 
Lawgiver. 

And  further,  if  a  command  issued  by  a  divinely 
^y  appointed  leader  is  intolerably  repulsive  to  us,  it  was 
not  so  to  them.  We  who  have  attained  higher  forms 
in  the  world-wide  schoolroom  of  the  great  Instructor 
of  men,  may  find  occasion  in  these  narratives  to  bless 
him  for  the  results  of  his  wise,  pure,  and  faithful 
teaching,  in  the  moral  sensibilities  that  stir  our  hearts 
when  we  read  what  horrid  things  were  done  by  those 
of  our  own  race  only  a  few  centuries  ago,  without  a 
thought  of  their  being  evil. 

The  men  whose  lives  we  are  contemplating  with 
aversion  were  on  the  ascending  grade.  They  were  in 
the  firm  grasp  of  one  who  was  bearing  the  race  they 
represented  forward  and  upward.     The  results  of  his 


THE   FINAL   TEST.  183 

teaching  will  appear  further  on,  and  its  wisdom  and 
efiectiveness  will  be  fully  jiistiiied. 

Take  for  example  the  butcheries  in  Canaan  under 
Joshua.  A  little  while  before  their  historic  time, 
those  who  committed  them,  like  those  they  exter- 
minated as  wild  beasts,  would  have  performed  such 
cruelties  for  cruelty's  sake.  But  now,  conscience  was 
being  exercised.  This  was  quite  a  new  thing  in 
the  earth.  There  could  have  been  no  such  lessons 
inculcated  in  the  school  of  Moloch,  Baal,  or  Astarte. 
As  reasons  for  the  act,  they  were  told  of  the  gross 
corruptions  to  which  these  people  were  addicted. 
The  subsequent  extermination  was  not  the  wanton 
and  unmitigated  barbarity  it  must  otherwise  have 
been.  They  were  taught  practically  to  detest  as 
horrible  and  hateful  the  forms  of  wickedness  that 
were  branded  as  evil  in  their  own  law. 

It  is  true  that  lessons  of  the  sacredness  of  human 
life,  and  of  tenderness,  pity,  and  brotherly-kindness 
with  which  we  are  so  familiar,  were  strikingly  absent 
here.  But  these  were  among  the  advanced  lessons 
of  the  future,  which  should  at  last  purge  the  earth 
from  all  its  wickedness.  Give  them  time.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case  everything  cannot  be  done  at 
once  for  men  in  the  moral  degradation  and  imper- 
viousness  to  right  impressions  from  which  they  were 
gradually  being  rescued. 

We  thus  see  what  deep  and  far-reaching  principles 
lie  here.  Do  not  mutilate  the  Book,  nor  expunge 
even  a  single  page.  It  may  not  be  very  pleasant 
reading — quite  the  opposite.      But    if    we  study   it 


184  INSPIRATION. 

carefully,  the  foulest  record  has  ite  indirect  moral 
uses  for  all  the  world.  It  would  be  a  miserably 
superficial  thought, — no  one  in  his  right  senses  would 
entertain  it, — that  because  such  things  were  done 
several  thousand  years  ago  under  apparent  divine 
sanction,  they  were  morally  right.  We  are  not  to 
call  evil  good^  nor  good  evil^  because  something  on 
the  surface  of  the  Bible  in  early  times  of  moral  stu- 
pidity seems  to  obliterate  moral  distinctions. 
'  ■  y  There  might  be  in  the  divine  rule  some  temporary 

Vi/^  \i '     accommodation  to  hardness  of  heart,  in  view  of  the 
O-  fact  that  softening  influences  were  at  work.     But  bad 

is  bad,  all  the  world  over  and  for  all  time,  and  it 
never  can  be  good.     We  must  not  suffer  the  moral 
sensitiveness  that  is  the  greatest  glory  of  our  nature, 
and  which  under  the  teaching  of  Christ  is  becoming 
exquisitely  true  and  sound  in  its  judgments,  to  be- 
come blunted   by  such  records  of  far-off  facts  and 
ethical  conditions  different  from  our  own. 
/(^^^^  jA^-.      Let  it  be  conceded  that  a  longtime  ago  God  merci- 
yji^v  £V!^  fully  "overlooked  "  some  things  that  are  unspeakably 
UA^  evil.     Yet  he  now  commands  all  men  everywhere  to 

repent  of  and  abjure  them.  Thank  God  that  we  have 
become  so  sensitive  to  such  evil  that  we  shrink  from 
it  with  wondering  horror  through  the  teaching  and 
example  of  our  blessed  Saviour  and  the  grace  of  his 
transforming  Spirit. 

We  take,  then,  an  enlightened  view  of  the  divine 
government  under  the  mysteries  that  formerl^'^  en- 
wrapped it.  We  can  look  with  some  leniency  at 
these  men  of  old, — savage,  yet  human  like  ourselves. 


THE  FINAL  TEST.  185 

Such  might  we  have  heen  but  fur  God's  grace.  But 
when  we  have  regard  to  the  evil  itself^  apart  from 
these  extenuating  considerations,  we  condemn  it  un- 
sparingly as  its  moral  enormity  deserves.  The  ruling 
that  permitted  it  still  stands,  as  part  of  the  record  of 
irreversible  facts.  But  we  now  judge  of  this  ruling 
by  a  later  and  more  perfect  divine  revelation.  As 
respects  the  regulation  of  our  own  lives,  the  former 
is  abolished  and  superseded.  The  holy  light  in  which 
we  live  reveals  the  true  character  of  the  deeds  here 
described,  and  for  our  thought  and  practice  sueh 
Scriptui*^  has  no  authority.  Moral  offences  so  un- 
speakably evil,  we  repel  and  detest  under  the  higher 
law  and  illumination  of  Christ.  That  they  are  in 
the  Bible  need  not  trouble  us  in  the  least. 

We  repeat  then  with  emphasis  our  axiom,  and 
without  abatement :  Whatsoever  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment  revelatwn^  or  in  any  prof essed  revelation  from 
God^  is  not  in  accord  with  the  righteousness^  or  love, 
or  purity,  or  truth,  in  the  words  and  the  life  of 
Christ,  has  heen  annulled  and  superseded,  and  is 
practically  no  revelation  for  us. 

The  errancy  of  Scripture  disturbs  us  no  more. 
Christ  himself  is  our  pattern  and  law,  which  can 
never  fail  us.  The  all-perfect  revelation  of  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  person,  life,  and  instructions  of  our 
divine  Redeemer,  is  like  the  electric  search-light  so 
important  in  our  modern  naval  warfare.  It  dissi- 
pates all  darkness,  and  exposes  to  detestation  every- 
thing contrary  to  God  and  his  law  in  thought,  or 
word,  or  deed. 


186  INSPIRATION. 

It  sweeps  over  the  vast  spaces  that  separate  ns  from 
man's  first  existence  upon  the  earth.  No  subtle 
illusions,  no  ingenious  sophistries,  no  artful  disguises 
that  error  or  wickedness  may  assume,  no  fog-banks 
of  falsehood  and  wrong  can  withstand  its  penetrative 
gleam. 

This  light  of  light  illumines  all  history.  Before  it 
centuries  and  eons  are  like  moments  and  hours. 
It  tests  all  that  the  busy  brain  of  man  has  conceived, 
his  hands  have  wrought  or  his  fingers  have  re- 
corded in  whatever  character  or  on  whatever  mate- 
rial, whether  on  parchment  or  on  clay,  on  brass  or  on 
stone.  It  is  'living  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than 
any  two-edged  sword,  and  piercing  to  the  dividing  asun- 
der of  soul  and  spirit,  of  both  the  joints  and  the  mar- 
row, and  quick  to  discern  the  thoughts  and  intents  of 
the  heart." 

Nothing  that  claims  to  be  sacred  may  decline  its 
scrutiny,  for  nothmg  can  be  more  sacred  than  itself. 
N"o  prophet,  no  apostle,  no  Moses,  David,  or  Isaiah 
of  the  Old  Testament,  or  Paul  or  John  of  the  N'ew, 
would  shrink  back  or  cower  before  this  holy  light ; 
"  for  every  one  that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the 
light,  that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest  that  they 
are  wrought  in  God."  Even  in  the  writings  of  these 
y  it  separates  the  purely  human  from  the  divine ;  and 
in  whatever  is  produced  conjointly,  it  separates  the 
temporary,  partial,  and  pio visional,  as  accommodated 
to  immaturity  and  incapacity,  from  that  which  must 
abide  in  unchanging  glory  like  the  years  of  the  Most 


<p- 


I 


THE  FINAL  TEST.  187 

Then  in  all  darkness,  and  iy  all  doubt  and  per^. 
plexity,  as  between  truth  and  error,  the  right  and  tlie 
wrong,  the  work  of  God  and  the  work  of  Apolljon, 
who  hides  his  missiles  of  destruction  under  dark 
coverts  and  in  deep  waters,  bring  out  the  Search-light, 
"  the  true  light  that  lighteth  every  man,  coming  into 
the  world."  Its  hostility  to  all  deeds  of  darkness  is 
uncompromising  and  deadly. 

But  it  lovingly  recognizes,  enfolds,  and  absorbs,  to 
give  forth  again  with  added  splendor,  whatever  it 
shines  upon  that  is  akin  to  its  own  substance  and 
nature,  which  is  in  fact  only  an  irradiation  from  itself, 
though  it  may  have  been  glowing  in  brightness  for 
ten  thousand  years.  For  this  is  the  primeval  light, 
in  comparison  with  which,  or  apart  from  which,  all 
other  light  is  darkness. 

To  the  glory  of  the  Lord  of  light  we  have  per- 
formed our  work.     May  he  graciously  accept  it. 


Date  Due 

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